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| Juan de Pareja (1606–1670) |
Artist:
Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) (Spanish, Seville 1599–1660 Madrid)
Date:
1650
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
32 x 27 1/2 in. (81.3 x 69.9 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Purchase, Fletcher and Rogers Funds, and Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876–1967), by exchange, supplemented by gifts from friends of the Museum, 1971
Velázquez most likely executed this portrait of his enslaved assistant in Rome during the early months of 1650. According to one of the artist's biographers, when this landmark of western portraiture was first put on display it "received such universal acclaim that in the opinion of all the painters of different nations everything else seemed like painting but this alone like truth." Months after depicting his sitter in such a proud and confident way, Velázquez signed a contract of manumission that would liberate him from bondage in 1654. From that point forward, Juan de Pareja worked as an independent painter in Madrid.
Provenance
Cardinal Tommaso Ruffo, Rome (by 1704; d. 1753; inv., 1734); Litterio Ruffo, 2nd duca di Baranello, Naples (1753–d. 1772); Vincenzo Ruffo, 3rd duca di Baranello, Naples (1772–76; sold to Hamilton); Sir William Hamilton, Palazzo Sessa, Naples (1776–1801; inv. July 14, 1798, states that this portrait came from the Baranello Collection at Naples); his sale, Christie's, London, March 27–28, 1801, no. 59, for £40.19.0 to Parker); Thomas Lister Parker, Browsholme, Yorkshire (1801–at least 1808; cat., 1808, no. 30); Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 2nd Earl of Radnor, Longford Castle, Salisbury, Wiltshire (by 1814, but probably acquired by the 2nd Earl on May 1, 1811 for £151.14.05 [see Ref. Radnor 1909]–d. 1828); the Earls of Radnor, Longford Castle (1828–1968; cat., 1909, no. 87); Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 8th Earl of Radnor, Longford Castle (1968–70; sale, Christie's, London, November 27, 1970, no. 110, to Wildenstein for MMA)
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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