Altaplana, world of Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters

the impossible & infinite encyclopedia of the world created by Schuiten & Peeters

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Velazquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas (1656).

From the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for the realist and impressionist painters, in particular Édouard Manet. Since that time, more modern artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, as well as the Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works 1).

Venus at her Mirror (The Rokeby Venus), 1649-51. Oil on canvas, 122,5 x 177 cm. National Gallery, London.

This painting might be the original of the one Giovanni Battista saw in his dreams 2). But it might also be Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.