ARTH 22.01 Velazquez and the Spanish Baroque
Diego Velasquez, sometimes called the prince of painters, was Spain's preeminent artist in the seventeenth century. This course considers his achievements as a painter, his aspirations as a courtier and gentleman, and his remarkably privileged association with his patron, King Philip IV. The class will study in depth many of Velazquez's key works and examine how he challenged previous notions about the nature of representation, and simultaneously sought to demonstrate the "nobility" of painting.