Spain of the Golden Century / Velasquez       Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velásquez (Seville 1599-Madrid 1660) Son of a Portuguese father and a mother from Seville, Velasquez can be considered as one of the most important artists of all times. Manet will say, “ he is the painter of painters ”. Of his private life there is little to tell because his entire existence is dedicated to painting. King Philip IV first notices him thanks to the portrait of the Count of Olivares who had taken him under his protection. In 1623, he is named “ pintor de cámara ” and thus becomes the King's official painter. In 1629, he makes his first journey to Italy where he acquires new experience in the composition of his pictures. He will return again twenty years later, adulated and solicited by all the nobility, and on this occasion will produce the portrait of Pope Innocent X. During the last ten years of his life he reaches the zenith of his art and with the completion of Las Méninas in 1656, he achieves one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Every brushstroke, every detail, reveals a new concept of painting. His “ impressionnist ” style completely sets him apart from the baroque movement of which he is a contemporary. Thus when he paints portraits, it will be said that his characters do not pose, but that they exist. In one of his most famous paintings, The Surrender of Breda he will know how to express the bitterness of the losers and the generous attitude of the winners. Also Great Marshal of the Palace, a few days before his death Velasquez is responsible for the organisation of the historic meeting on the Isle of Pheasants, celebrating the marriage of Louis XIV with the infanta Maria-Theresa with the courts of Spain and France.