On the fall of Olivarez, in 1643. Velazquez con tinued to portray and honor him, notwithstanding the general execrations. Nor did be lose the King's favor on this account, but as director of the partial reconstruction of the Alcizar lie re ceived the coveted leave to revi7sit Italy in 1649. Most of his time was occupied with his task of buying paintings and statuary for the new apart ments; hut while in Rome he found time for two magnificent portraits—one of his slave, the ales tizo Juan de Pareja (Earl of Carlisle), a prepar atory exercise for his portrait of Pope inno cent X. (Paintili Gallery. Rome, and Apsley House). So idealistic a judge as Burekhardt has termed the latter "the greatest portrait of the seventeenth century." It seems molded by a broad and masterly brush rather than painted, and it foreshadowed the third style, which he had been gradually evolving. characterized by maxi mum effect with minimum effort, perfection of naturalism, and light effects to the point of optical illusion.
Soon after his return to Spain, in June, 1651. Velazquez was appointed aposentador mayor (marshal of the palace). with a yearly salary of 3000 ducats and quarters in the Ale:czar. The po sition involved the grave responsibility of looking after the quarters of the royal family at home and on its numerous journeys. He had long ad ministered the royal galleries, which owed their chief attractiveness to him, and of these lie wrote a sort of description (published in the Memorias of the Spanish Academy, August, 1872, and by Daviliers, Paris. 1874). in 1659 he received the cross of Santiago, the highest honor attainable by a Spanish nobleman. As aposentador he ar ranged the Spanish part of the gorgeous festivi ties on the occasion of the marriage by proxy of Philip's sister to young Loui!,. XIV, of France, on the Isle of Pheasants in the River Bidassoa. But the exertions and responsibili ties resulted in a fever, of which be (lied after his return to Madrid, August 6, 1660. He was noble and courteous in manner, kind and gen erous in disposition. and loved by all. He was always ready to befriend other artists: Alonzo Can() and Murillo owed much to his kindness and advice. His principal pupils were his son ia-law Alazo, his slave Pareja. by whom many of the works assigned to him were executed, and Careito de Miranda.
Among the ninny portraits of Velazquez's last period are those of _Marianna of Austria (Prado and Vienna), Philip's last queen, in the absurd Court costume of the day; the little 'Infanta Margarita (Louvre and Vienna) : and Philip IV. in his old age (Prado. National Gallery, etc.). The so-called "Las Menivas" ( Prado) represents Margarita and her maids of honor being painted by Velazquez. lle also appears in the so-called "Family of Velazquez." a group of nine per sons; but of his authentic later portraits of him self the hest known are in the lJffizi. "Las Hi landeras" (the Spinners, Prado) represents a scene in the royal tapestry manufactory. The treatment of light and color in this painting is so consummate that, according to the painter Ra phael .Mengs, "it was not painted by the hand, but by pure force of the will." To this period also belong the portraits of the Court fools, dwarfs, imbeciles, etc. (Prado), in which the painter has achieved an apotheosis of the ugly.
Such are the jesters, known a. "Barbarossa." "Don Juan de Austria," and "Pabilillos de Val ladolid:" the dwarfs, Sebastian de Nlorra and "El Prinat;" the idiots, "El Bohn de Coria" and "El Milo de Vallegas." Perhaps in the same category belong wits, whom the artist has dubbed ".Esop" and "Menippus"— wonderful examples of the broad treatment. Velazquez also attempted mythological subjects, anion"' which were a rather unsuccessful "Mars" (Prado) and "Mercury and Argns," quite im aginative in diameter. "Venus with a Mirror" (Rokeby Park, Yorkshire) is a nude Andalusian dancing maiden, with nothing of the Greek god dess about her. Near the close of his life he painted two fine religious pieces (Prado) : the of the Virgin," in which, of all his works. the Italian influence is most predominant, and the "Anchorites." representing two gray beards, Saints Anthony and Paul the Hermit, in a desolate landscape of sublime grandeur.
When the portrait of Juan Pareja was ex hibited in the Pantheon at Rome, it was the opinion of painters of all nationalities that "all else seemed painting, this alone truth." The work of Velazquez could not be better character ized. for it was perhaps the most perfect natural ism the world has ever seen. He made no im aginative effort, nor did he ever attempt to render a mental image, but painted simply what he saw', Ile is the most objective of painters; the subject itself tells the whole story. This wonderful naturalism was achieved by his consummate knowledge of light and shade, and the play of the aerial effect. in the purely technical quali ties of painting he has never been surpassed, if, indeed, he has ever been equaled. his draughts manship was firm, his modeling delicate, and he possessed a good knowledge of form. His sad color scheme enabled him to use occasional patches of bright color with all the more effect, and no man has ever rendered values more exact ly. His brush was light and sure, never a stroke too much or too little, and the modern painter stands abashed bef(C're his works, recognizing that there is nothing technical to be improved upon. Small wonder, then, that he has been termed the painter's painter. "le peintre le plus peintre qui Mt jamais," ac Bfirger puts it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The chief original materials Bibliography. The chief original materials for the life of Velazquez, besides the original documents, are his father-in-law's (Pacheco) Arty (le ht pint era (Seville, 1649) ; Palormino, Mimeo piet(trieo (Madrid, ]724: Eng. trans. 1i39) ; and Bermudez,Diccionario ( Madrid, 1800 ). Modern biographies are those of Stirling-Max well, in his .Innals of the Artists of Rpain (Lon don, 1848), also published separately (ib., 1855) ; Bfirger (Thom) (Paris, 1865); Stowe (London, 1881) ; and Curtis, Velazquez and Murillo (New York, 1883). By far the best and most complete work upon Velazquez is by Carl .Teti (Bonn. 188S; Eng. trans., London, 1889). Others are by Lefort (Paris. 1894) ; Armstrong, in the Portfolio (London. 1896) ; Bernete (Paris, 1898), with fine kneel:fuss (Bielefeld, 1898) ; and Stokes (Lan don, 1902). Good reproductions of his principal works in the Prado Museum were published at Madrid (1896).