1628 Rubens visited Madrid on a diplomatic mission for nine months, and Velazquez was appointed by the king to be his guide among the art treasures of Spain. In 1627 the king had given for competition among the painters of Spain the subject of the Ex pulsion of the Moors. Velazquez bore off the palm for a picture no longer extant, and was appointed gentleman usher. To this was shortly afterwards added a daily allowance of twelve reals, and ninety ducats a year for dress. As an extra payment he re ceived (though it was not paid for five years) one hundred ducats for the picture of Bacchus, painted in 1629 (Madrid gallery). The spirit and aim of this work are better understood from its Spanish name, "Los Borrachos" (the Topers), who are paying mock homage to a half-naked ivy-crowned young man seated on a wine barrel.
In 1629 Philip gave Velazquez permission to visit Italy, without loss of salary, making him besides a present of four hundred ducats, to which Olivares added two hundred. He sailed from Barcelona in August in the company of the marquis de Spinola, the conqueror of Breda, then on his way to take command of the Spanish troops at Milan. It was during this voyage that Velazquez must have heard the details of the sur render of Breda from the lips of the victor, and he must have sketched his fine head, known to us also by the portrait by Van Dyck. But the great picture was not painted till later. In Venice Velazquez made copies of the "Crucifixion" and the "Last Supper" of Tintoretto, which he sent to the king, and in Rome he copied Michelangelo and Raphael, lodging in the Villa Medici till fever compelled him to remove into the city. Here I e painted the "Forge of Vulcan" (Madrid gallery), in which Apollo narrates to the astonished Vulcan, a village blacksmith, the news of the loves of Venus, while four Cyclops listen to the scandal. The other work painted at the same time, "Joseph's Coat," now hangs in the Escorial. At Rome he also painted the two beautiful land scapes of the gardens of the Villa Medici, now in the Madrid museum, full of light, sparkle and charm. After a visit to Naples in 1631, where he worked with his countryman Ribera, and painted a charming portrait of the Infanta Maria Queen of Hungary and sister of Philip, Velazquez returned to Madrid.
He then painted the first of many portraits of the young prince, Don Baltasar Carlos, the heir to the throne, dignified and lordly even in his childhood, caracoling in the dress of a field-marshal on his prancing steed. The Duke of Olivares, the king's powerful minister, was the early and constant patron of the painter. His impassive, saturnine face is familiar to us from the many portraits painted by Velazquez. Two are of surpassing excellence—the full-length in the collection of the Hispanic Soci ety, New York, stately and dignified, in which he wears the green cross of Aicantara ; the other the great equestrian portrait of the Madrid gallery. In these portraits Velazquez has well repaid the debt of gratitude which he owed to his first patron, whom he stood by in his fail, thus exposing himself to the risk of incurring the anger of the jealous Philip. The king, however, showed no sign of malice towards his favoured painter, whom he visited daily in his studio in the palace, and to whom he sat in many attitudes and costumes, as a huntsman with his dogs, as a warrior in command of his troops. His pale face and lack-lustre eye, his fair flowing hair and moustaches curled up to his eyes, and his heavy projecting Hapsburg under-lip are known in many a portrait and nowhere more supremely than in the wonderful canvas of the London National Gallery where he seems to live and breathe. Here the
consummate handling of Velazquez is seen at its best, for it is in his late and most perfect manner. From one of the equestrian portraits of the king, painted in 1638, the sculptor Montalies modelled a statue which was cast in bronze by the Florentine sculptor Tacca, and which now stands in the Plaza del Oriente at Madrid. This portrait exists no more; but there is no lack of others, for Velazquez was in constant attendance on Philip, accom panying him in his journeys to Aragon in 1642 and 1644, and was doubtless present with him when he entered Lerida as a conqueror.
It was then that he painted the great equestrian portrait (Madrid gallery) in which the king is represented as a great commander leading his troops. It hangs as a pendant to the great Olivares por trait—fit rivals of the neighbouring Charles V. by Titian. At Fraga in Aragon in 1644 he painted a portrait of the king in country costume the original of which seems to be in the Frick collection, New York, while the Dulwich Gallery has a copy.
But, besides the portraits of the king, we have portraits of other members of the royal family, of Philip's first wife, Isabella of Bourbon, and her children, especially of her eldest son, Don Baltasar Carlos, of whom, besides the equestrian portrait already mentioned, there is a full-length at the Vienna Museum, one in hunting dress at the Prado, and one at the Boston Museum with a dwarf. The Admiral Pulido Pareja at the National Gallery, is said to have been taken by Philip for the living man ; nevertheless, A. de Beruete is emphatic in denying Velazquez's authorship of this picture, which he attributes to Mazo. The Duke of Modena on a visit to Madrid was painted by the artist (Modena Gallery) and of the same period are two male portraits at Dresden "The Count of Benevent," "The Sculptor Martinez Montariez" in the Madrid gallery, and "The Unknown Man" at Aspley House. One won ders who "the lady with the fan" can be that adorns the Wallace collection, the splendid brunette so unlike the usual fair-haired female sitters to Velazquez. She belongs to this period of his work, to the ripeness of his middle period. The touch is firm but free, showing the easy strength of the great master. But, if we have few ladies of the court of Philip, we have in great plenty his buffoons and dwarfs. Even these deformed or half-witted crea tures attract our sympathy as we look at their portraits by Velaz quez, who, true to his nature, treats them gently and kindly, as in "El Primo" (the Favourite), whose intelligent face and huge folio with ink-bottle and pen by his side show him to be a wiser and better-educated man than many of the gallants of the court. 'We now turn to one of the greatest of historical works, the "Surrender of Breda," often known as "Las Lanzas," from the serried rank of lances breaking the sky, which is believed to have been painted between 1638 and 1644. It represents the moment when the van quished Justin of Nassau in front of his Dutch troops is sub missively bending as he offers to his conqueror Spinola the keys of the town, which, with courteous grace, the victor refuses to accept. The greatest of the religious paintings by Velazquez belongs also to this middle period, the "Christ on the Cross" (Madrid gallery). Palomino says it was painted in 1638 for the convent of San Placido. The Saviour's head hangs on his breast and a mass of dark tangled hair conceals part of the face. The beautiful form is projected against a black and hopeless sky. The figure stands ab solutely alone, without any accessory. To the same period belongs the great "Boar Hunt" at the National Gallery, a magnificent work in spite of some restorations.