WEBVTT

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June 6, 1660.

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Exhausted after the Thirty Years\' War
and ten more against France,

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Spain is about to sign the Treaty of the Pyrenees,
by which two eternal enemies will seal peace.

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The first world power until then, Spain,
will pass the baton to France,

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ruled by an impetuous young Louis XIV,
antagonist of the decadent Philip IV.

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As part of the agreement, Philip IV,
the “King Planet”, grants his daughter

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Infanta Maria Theresa of Austria
in marriage to the French Louis XIV.

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Peace will be agreed on a tiny land
between France and Spain

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declared neutral: Pheasant Island.

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Diego Velázquez is there doing his last
act of service to the Spanish Monarchy.

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Velázquez, Art and Power.

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Velázquez\'s life summit
is linked

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to an inhospitable place
called Pheasant Island.

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That is actually not an island

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but an islet between France and Spain,
in the Bidasoa,

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where Velázquez was in charge
of creating the setting

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for the Peace of the Pyrenees
in 1659.

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Pheasant Island represents

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the end he desired
and dreamed of for decades.

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Probably Velázquez never imagined
that ending in his life.

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Velázquez was in the right place

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and in the right moment
but obviously with his talent.

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He could have painted more but
after ending up in that sublime place

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he feels he has achieved it all.

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Not even Olivares
would have conceived it.

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He fell into disgrace but
Velázquez was still there

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and he would be present
at such a political act.

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No one could ever imagine it.

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He climbed to the top
due to his master hand

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and to his intelligence,
of course.

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Power has always approached
art for endorsement.

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Not only political power
but also economic power.

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The mighty rich

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they also looked for the portrait
of the popular painter or poet.

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Velázquez is a strategist
in every sense.

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Not only about the way
he operates within the Court,

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but also about how he wants
to go down in history.

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That is, the way in which

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he connects with
the powerful

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implies these strategies
will help him to be part

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of that class,
of that line of great artists.

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To me, one of Velázquez\'s
most important skills

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is how he uses painting
to achieve his goals.

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Velazquez had a dream:

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becoming not only a renowned artist
but also a noble.

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The most valuable asset of an artist
is talent and knowing how to use it.

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What is power for an artist?

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For a 17th century artist
it would be something

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artists already have today,
which is creative freedom.

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Sometimes we forget

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most of 17th century artists painted
or carved on demand.

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So we see artists like Rubens,
Velázquez, Rembrandt

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and others from the 17th century
who fought for that freedom

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and gained it progressively.

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There is little information about him
but many bureaucratic documents, instead.

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When you see his signature on
agreements, bills and so on,

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it is clear he is someone who moves
like a fish in water at the Court.

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He knows who to deal with,

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who to do favours to or not,
who not to hang out with...

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Every brushstroke of his
is not arbitrary.

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Making them he was very aware of
his worth, his merit, his talent,

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he felt unique,
and wanted to be treated as such.

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Therefore, his painting
is linked to power

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because for much of his life

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he outlines the image
of power with his brush.

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Velázquez\'s Seville boosts the economy
of the Spanish Empire.

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It is a city influenced by money

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and influenced by
a very dynamic society.

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Seville was a new Rome.

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At the beginning of the 17th century,
when Velázquez is starting,

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the city is a Babylon
of the arts.

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It is the crossroads between
the Flemish and the Italians.

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The intellectuals and influentials
of the time configure a city

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of the highest
cultural level.

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At that time in Spain

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the artists were
considered artisans.

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They were people
who worked with their hands.

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Therefore, they weren\'t
as important as poets,

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who were considered
creators of ideas.

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Painters were in a way
people with tainted hands.

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If Velázquez family had been noble,
he might not have been a painter.

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You could be an extraordinary painter
but you were still one.

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And if you had charged for your work

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that automatically pushed you away
from the social elite of the time.

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The elite doesn\'t charge
since it doesn\'t work.

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The elite is rich from birth,
it has properties and lives on them.

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So for Velázquez
that had to be

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a dissonance quite hard
to assimilate

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because he was surely aware
of his huge talent.

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Also, many people around him
might realise about his talent

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but still there were barriers
he couldn\'t avoid.

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Francisco Pacheco
is everything in Seville.

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There, Francisco Pacheco is
the most important painter.

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He is an overseer, that is,
the head of the Painters Guild.

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He is also close to the Inquisition.

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And he controls who makes
religious paintings in the city.

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We can say he has
a modern approach to painting.

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He claims it is a liberal art,

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that is, an art that emerges
from ideas and creation.

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He is fundamental to understand
the success of Velázquez.

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We do not know Velázquez\'s thoughts
at Pacheco\'s workshop

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but we can sense
his painting was very powerful.

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He was very confident in himself.

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I think his painting speaks
for himself

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because you can notice that
in an artist.

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We see how he painted, what he painted
and mostly his painting trend

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and it is obvious Velázquez
was sure his art would bring him

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big things in the future.

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Velázquez breaks with Sevillian
painting trend, the late mannerism.

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Velázquez\'s radical innovation is,
as Pacheco states in his Art of Painting,

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a full attention to nature.

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Probably, that will stay
with him for life.

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He will paint characters
in his family or from the streets,

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always addressing reality

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but also the depicted moods
in that reality.

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That is, laughing, crying...

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His technique is short, loaded brushstrokes,
with a lot of filling and colors,

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dark tones from Seville landscapes,
very intense fillings

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and sharp contrasts
between light and shadow.

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If a painter wanted to succeed
in Spain in the 17th century,

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he had to be at the Court.

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If Velázquez stayed in Seville
he would have spent his whole life

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with orders from the Church,
painting monasteries,

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monks... Convents.

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But he wants to do something else

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because his intelligence
is exceptional over his peers.

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He wants something different
and he knows the only way to do it

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is going to Madrid, to the Court.

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He tried right after Philip IV
was appointed King.

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Gaspar de Guzman was elected
Royal Favourite so in 1622

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he called Velázquez to the Court
by means of Francisco Pacheco

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and there he portrayed Góngora.

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It\'s a masterful portrait.
Góngora\'s disgruntled gesture

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is the one of a poet that feels
not fully accomplished in the Court.

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What then?

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He failed to portray the King
so he came back home by December.

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That first trial trip
to verify

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such exceptional qualities
of that young painter

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did not succeed in painting the King
and he did not enter the Court.

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When will he get into the Court?

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In 1623, after the death of
Bartolomé González, the King\'s painter,

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so the Count-Duke of Olivares
called him upon.

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The Count-Duke was born in Rome

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but he felt utterly Sevillian.

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Seville was his city
by all means

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and there he participates in gatherings
of intellectuals and painters

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and starts creating his group.

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When he\'s appointed Royal Favourite
he goes to the Court

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and he begins to call upon
people from his Sevillian group.

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The Count-Duke of Olivares found
a vacancy among the King\'s painters.

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He wanted to give that position
to someone in his political line

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so he asked Francisco Pacheco.

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An essential element to it is Novoa,
a spy from the Count-Duke,

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who states that Olivares
was placing his people

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even in the King\'s rooms.

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He was actually controlling
the entire political spectrum.

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Then Fonseca showed up
with his portrait made by Velázquez

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and everyone admired
his quality to portray reality,

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his perfect imitation
of a character,

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so he was ready to try
the portrait of the King.

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Once portrayed he achieves his goal
and he is appointed Painter to the King.

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Philip IV spoke four languages.

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He was a cultured person.

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And he was a man
with a refined sense of art.

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He wasn\'t a jerk.

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But even so, at the time
Kings dedicated themselves to food,

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to receptions
and especially hunting.

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But their favourites acted for them
while they went about their escapades.

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Who is the Count-Duke of Olivares?

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He is the policy maker
of the empire.

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Therefore, the most important man
of Europe back then.

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When Velázquez arrived at the Court,
Madrid was very different

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from today, of course.

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Yet some things remain:
bureaucracy, paperwork...

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Those existed already

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but he found a city
with inner struggles of power

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among nobles and respective sides.

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In fact, when Velázquez
arrived at Madrid,

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making a political simile
with the present,

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the Count-Duke of Olivares
was starting his legal term.

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Also, there is to know
society was much smaller.

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Madrid was infinitely
smaller than Seville.

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Not as small as sometimes referred
as \"a hamlet from La Mancha\"

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but enough for all intellectuals
to know one other.

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Velázquez could have easy access
to many writers, painters

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and many people from that
social status because they were few.

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It was different from
the mercantile Seville,

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a dynamic and lucrative city,

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suddenly moving into another
that is the symbol of power.

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It would be like moving
from New York to Washington.

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Of course, New York is universal
but Washington is the power core

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where the strings are pulled,

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and that surely creates a certain
tension in young Velázquez

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because he was unsuccessful
at first attempt.

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Now he has to be careful
to knock the right door.

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At the end he gets in
using his connections,

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as almost anybody back then.

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It was not easy but Velázquez
always had the royal favour

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and the favour
of the Count-Duke of Olivares.

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I think he must have met
some hostility at first

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because such a talented artist
had to be seen as a threat

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by the Court painters
and the Italian painters

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who rather controlled this art
at the institutions

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and suddenly found this guy
who was really talented.

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They criticized him for being
\"a portrait painter\".

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They said \"great portraitist,
but what about the rest?\"

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At the time that ability to portray
pigeonholed him, perhaps.

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I see him as this music talent
who knows he is gifted

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and he is making his way up
but he has to be wary

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and press the right keys.

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Both Palomino and Pacheco
tell us about his arrival

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to the Court
and the most repeated word

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regarding other painters\'
perception is envy.

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That\'s their most frequent word.

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Inevitably, this is also
reflected in his work

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and his behaviour
towards Carduccio and others.

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Carduccio\'s painting treatise
says nothing about Velázquez.

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They live together,
he writes a painting treatise

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and he\'s not mentioned?

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That relationship
is a bit suspicious.

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Let\'s not forget
Velázquez was a rebel.

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At that time,

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his cohabitants at the Court had to be
a bit suspicious of Velázquez\'s painting

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because he was a pure rebel.

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He followed the rules of the Court
except in his painting.

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Painting he is completely
disruptive and rebellious.

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And you don\'t make friends like that.
You make enemies.

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Velázquez is well aware that
to reach a high social ladder,

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to be the highest official of the Court,

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he has to be close to power.

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Velázquez was a high rank official

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and as one he could have
some luxuries, privileges,

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like holding discussions or
sharing thoughts with the King

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when most artists couldn\'t,

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or observing the works
from the Royal Collection

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and having in front of him

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works of Van Eyck, Titian
and learn from them

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when most of them were vetoed

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to the vast majority
of the population

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and the artists
of his time.

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Velazquez has to change
his trend, his painting,

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to depict the image of the King

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and also to control
the painting at the Court,

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that is, to control
access to power.

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The arrival of Rubens as a diplomat
from Isabella Clara Eugenia,

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Governor of the Netherlands,
is vital for Velázquez.

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I\'ve often imagined the meeting
between Rubens and Velázquez,

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I would have loved to see it.

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I may be exaggerating,
but Velázquez must have been

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so fascinated by that character,
by that \"painting god\",

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that he never thought
one day he\'d be like Rubens.

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Just like Pacheco changed
the life of young Velázquez

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with his academic,
humanistic training,

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Rubens will change
Velázquez again, too.

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Without Rubens,

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Velázquez would not have been him,
not the Velázquez we know.

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For me, Rubens is more important
than Pacheco, even more than

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the Royal Collection,
because he\'s a role model.

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He\'s a popular painter at the time
but also a relevant figure

00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:08.380
at the European political scene.\"

00:19:08.410 --> 00:19:10.770
That admiration at all levels,

00:19:10.800 --> 00:19:13.360
artistically but also socially,

00:19:13.390 --> 00:19:17.605
felt by Velázquez for Rubens
affected him in many ways,

00:19:17.629 --> 00:19:20.810
like his trip to Italy
or his painting style.

00:19:20.840 --> 00:19:22.050
Velázquez wants that status

00:19:22.080 --> 00:19:24.940
so he tries to get even
with Rubens.

00:19:24.970 --> 00:19:27.050
That is Velázquez\'s aspiration:

00:19:27.080 --> 00:19:31.086
to be accepted as one
among the mighty ones,

00:19:31.143 --> 00:19:34.980
but this time by means
of merit, not birth.

00:19:35.010 --> 00:19:37.250
Rubens is the noble artist
par excellence,

00:19:37.280 --> 00:19:44.530
but he also has that aura of
great artist, gentleman, diplomat...

00:19:44.560 --> 00:19:45.700
He\'s all great.

00:19:45.730 --> 00:19:48.500
That meeting between both
must have been very interesting

00:19:48.530 --> 00:19:51.980
from which Velázquez probably
took a lot of ideas

00:19:52.010 --> 00:19:54.540
and goals for his own career.

00:19:54.760 --> 00:19:58.110
Velazquez\'s goal in life
is being like Rubens

00:19:58.140 --> 00:20:01.257
and he\'ll put all his efforts
to achieve it.

00:20:04.560 --> 00:20:08.530
For Velázquez, Tiziano was like
Alexander the Great for many kings,

00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:18.357
a Venetian painter who rubbed elbows
with the Emperor.

00:20:18.443 --> 00:20:22.500
All decision-makers in Europe
wanted to be painted by him.

00:20:22.530 --> 00:20:25.714
He is well aware that
his great mentors,

00:20:25.757 --> 00:20:30.560
artists like Titian and Rubens,
mark the way

00:20:30.590 --> 00:20:33.290
and he wants to follow.

00:20:33.320 --> 00:20:35.640
Would Velázquez be aware
one day he\'d be like Titian,

00:20:35.670 --> 00:20:39.530
that legend he had contact with
at the Royal Collection?

00:20:39.560 --> 00:20:40.660
We don\'t know,

00:20:40.690 --> 00:20:44.900
but surely he was a spur
for him to think:

00:20:44.930 --> 00:20:49.620
\"I have to improve, go further.
If Tiziano could, I\'ll go after.\"

00:20:49.650 --> 00:20:51.480
Rubens succeeded socially.

00:20:51.481 --> 00:20:55.929
Velázquez wanted to achieve that
with his painting and without it,

00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:00.040
because in Spain at the time
painting was not seen yet

00:21:00.070 --> 00:21:02.980
as a liberal art,
as an art of ideas,

00:21:03.010 --> 00:21:07.000
as an act of creation,
something presumed nowadays.

00:21:07.060 --> 00:21:09.614
Artists are most important now,

00:21:09.615 --> 00:21:11.600
more than mere work,
but not then.

00:21:11.630 --> 00:21:20.200
His ambition is not only to be
the highest official of the Court.

00:21:20.230 --> 00:21:21.460
That is...

00:21:21.490 --> 00:21:23.420
That is an ambition of the moment,

00:21:23.450 --> 00:21:25.770
an ambition of a mortal being.

00:21:25.800 --> 00:21:27.443
But he wants to be immortal.

00:21:35.040 --> 00:21:40.050
Philip IV spends time with Rubens
talking about painting.

00:21:40.080 --> 00:21:41.860
He is a Prince of the Arts.

00:21:41.890 --> 00:21:46.957
He supports creativity and
he has conversations with Rubens.

00:21:47.057 --> 00:21:52.180
Rubens, in turn, encourages
young Velázquez to go to Italy

00:21:52.210 --> 00:21:57.860
to practice and learn about
new trends and the classics.

00:21:57.890 --> 00:22:02.090
And that is key because
a few months later

00:22:02.120 --> 00:22:04.620
Velazquez gets the greenlight
from the King.

00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:07.520
In my mind he told him:
\"Look boy,

00:22:07.520 --> 00:22:10.260
you have to do this,
that, forget this,

00:22:10.290 --> 00:22:13.880
go to Italy, study,
don\'t get pigeonholed,

00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:17.120
you must go
on this direction,

00:22:17.120 --> 00:22:20.160
with your quality
you must go for more.\"

00:22:20.490 --> 00:22:22.960
The trip to Italy
opens his mind completely

00:22:22.990 --> 00:22:28.040
and he becomes a new man,
a new painter,

00:22:28.070 --> 00:22:33.186
a new artist after returning
to the Court in 1631.

00:22:43.120 --> 00:22:46.500
On his first trip, Velázquez,

00:22:46.530 --> 00:22:52.620
advised by Rubens,
goes to Italy for two years,

00:22:52.650 --> 00:22:57.000
passing through Genoa
until he gets to Venice.

00:22:57.020 --> 00:22:59.700
There, at the School
of San Rocco, he goes nuts.

00:22:59.970 --> 00:23:04.871
Velázquez\'s trip to Italy
is marked by a city: Venice.

00:23:05.080 --> 00:23:07.371
Venice will be with him
for the rest of his life.

00:23:12.360 --> 00:23:15.260
Spain at the time
was colourless.

00:23:15.280 --> 00:23:17.660
Spanish painters
didn\'t use colours.

00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:19.330
Colours came to Spain
with The Greek,

00:23:19.360 --> 00:23:22.700
influenced by Venice
and all its icons.

00:23:22.730 --> 00:23:25.290
On his arrival to Venice

00:23:25.320 --> 00:23:30.000
he enters the School of San Rocco
and finds a new world there,

00:23:30.030 --> 00:23:41.180
full of colours, away from harsh,
formal Castile of that time.

00:23:41.210 --> 00:23:44.290
Colour meant modernity

00:23:44.320 --> 00:23:48.520
and from that moment on,
Velazquez will change his painting

00:23:48.550 --> 00:23:52.240
to \"distant spots\",
as Quevedo would say.

00:23:52.270 --> 00:23:53.880
There he liberates himself

00:23:53.910 --> 00:23:57.498
through colours and emotions.

00:23:57.698 --> 00:24:03.480
In Venice he gets to know the school
of Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese,

00:24:03.510 --> 00:24:08.043
where colours explode,
and he practically creates his own.

00:24:09.671 --> 00:24:15.229
That\'s a turning point
in the history of Spanish painting.

00:24:19.080 --> 00:24:21.380
That encounter between
Velázquez and Venice

00:24:21.410 --> 00:24:24.371
is the reason why
he has no disciples.

00:24:31.520 --> 00:24:33.540
What did Rome
mean for Velázquez?

00:24:33.570 --> 00:24:37.186
Like Disneyland today,

00:24:37.329 --> 00:24:41.200
because it was the
\"non plus ultra\" of art,

00:24:41.230 --> 00:24:49.620
energy, power and its schemes,
competition,

00:24:49.650 --> 00:24:53.249
trying to be
greater and mightier.

00:24:54.700 --> 00:24:58.357
For him it must have been
like Dorothy in \"The Wizard of Oz\".

00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:03.229
He went through the gray door
and found a coloured world,

00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:08.180
the Italian painters,
light, life, joy...

00:25:08.210 --> 00:25:16.140
And he began to open his mind
since Spain then was very closeminded.

00:25:16.170 --> 00:25:20.229
There he sees a world full
of artists, free to create.

00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:26.220
When summer comes,

00:25:26.250 --> 00:25:31.686
he takes his easel and paints outdoors
at Villa Medici.

00:25:31.729 --> 00:25:34.020
These paintings are fundamental

00:25:34.050 --> 00:25:38.920
because the light they reflect
goes ahead in time and becomes

00:25:39.050 --> 00:25:45.566
the prelude to Impressionism
in the 19th century,

00:25:45.766 --> 00:25:49.971
with those imprints,
that light on the canvas.

00:25:52.114 --> 00:25:54.810
Velázquez paints the landscapes
of Villa Medici

00:25:54.840 --> 00:25:59.140
in the context of
classicist landscape painting,

00:25:59.170 --> 00:26:02.829
which is a new genre
appeared in Rome around 1600.

00:26:02.886 --> 00:26:04.880
Important painters
like Poussin,

00:26:04.910 --> 00:26:08.660
Claude Lorrain,
Cornelis van Poelenburch,

00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:14.220
many make these works evoking
nature, the classical world.

00:26:14.250 --> 00:26:18.080
And then Velázquez paints
these landscapes at Villa Medici

00:26:18.110 --> 00:26:20.980
and they are specific locations,

00:26:21.010 --> 00:26:25.290
specific trees, walls,
scaffoldings...

00:26:25.320 --> 00:26:27.200
They\'re not idealistic landscapes.

00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:34.000
All he was surrounded by
had a favourable effect on him:

00:26:34.020 --> 00:26:37.960
his colours, his being,
his portrait style,

00:26:37.990 --> 00:26:41.330
his way of painting,
his way of life.

00:26:41.360 --> 00:26:43.880
So he looked around for the best,

00:26:43.910 --> 00:26:49.290
he made it his own and gave it
a twist with an amazing talent.

00:26:49.320 --> 00:26:51.980
He sees what his peers are doing

00:26:52.010 --> 00:26:55.200
and he says \"I\'ll learn,
I\'ll do it like you

00:26:55.230 --> 00:26:59.700
but with two turns of screw,
changing it completely.\"

00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:01.320
Then again, he is questioning,

00:27:01.350 --> 00:27:06.050
showing he can do it
like other painters

00:27:06.080 --> 00:27:08.860
but he turns it around
presenting something else.

00:27:08.890 --> 00:27:12.720
Villa Medici\'s paintings
are something very strange,

00:27:12.750 --> 00:27:17.200
very unpredictable, that
I personally can\'t comprehend yet.

00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.657
Most people can\'t, either.

00:27:19.686 --> 00:27:23.957
They dazzle us
because of what we know today,

00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:28.371
we see them after 19th and 20th century
and we know all they preceded,

00:27:28.429 --> 00:27:31.540
anticipating the future trend
of painting.

00:27:31.570 --> 00:27:34.700
Of course, Velazquez had no idea

00:27:34.730 --> 00:27:37.860
those images would imply
such an anticipation in art.

00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:40.800
What he\'s surely doing
in those paintings,

00:27:40.900 --> 00:27:43.290
according to me,
is experimenting.

00:27:43.320 --> 00:27:44.620
What we need to know is

00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:47.740
what the hell was he testing
and experimenting.

00:27:47.760 --> 00:27:53.090
It\'s not just about his technique,
rather fluid in these paintings.

00:27:53.120 --> 00:27:57.050
It\'s about what he\'s painting,
which is absolutely irrelevant.

00:27:57.080 --> 00:28:01.980
His subject has no relevance at all
and that is really intriguing.

00:28:02.010 --> 00:28:03.700
Those Villa Medici\'s landscapes

00:28:03.730 --> 00:28:07.640
are only understood
after 19th century,

00:28:07.670 --> 00:28:10.500
after Corot
and Impressionism.

00:28:10.520 --> 00:28:13.160
I would have liked to see
the reaction at the Court

00:28:13.190 --> 00:28:14.818
when he took them back to Madrid.

00:28:14.868 --> 00:28:16.660
They probably told him:

00:28:16.690 --> 00:28:19.290
\"But what have you done?
Is this all you bring us?

00:28:19.320 --> 00:28:21.943
All you have dedicated to?
Please, tell us.\"

00:28:40.114 --> 00:28:42.457
One of the outcomes
of Velázquez\'s first trip to Italy

00:28:42.458 --> 00:28:44.050
is \"The Forge of Vulcan\".

00:28:44.080 --> 00:28:48.170
He brings back to Spain
\"The Forge of Vulcano\",

00:28:48.171 --> 00:28:53.840
which is a slap in the face
to all those other painters

00:28:53.870 --> 00:28:57.980
who had criticized him stating
that \"he could only paint heads\".

00:28:58.010 --> 00:29:02.200
It shows a mastering
of technique, anatomy,

00:29:02.230 --> 00:29:05.860
of knowledge of Roman statues
and engravings of that time,

00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:07.000
that is really amazing.

00:29:10.760 --> 00:29:13.600
\"The Forge of Vulcan\"
is probably my favourite

00:29:13.620 --> 00:29:17.000
among all Velázquez\'s works
because he shows a huge talent

00:29:17.020 --> 00:29:19.050
as a storyteller,

00:29:19.080 --> 00:29:23.700
not only in the choice of topic
but in the production of theme.

00:29:23.730 --> 00:29:28.240
He chose the exact moment
Vulcan finds out his wife, Venus,

00:29:28.260 --> 00:29:31.360
the goddess of beauty,
is cheating on him with Mars.

00:29:31.380 --> 00:29:32.880
And beware, not only that,

00:29:32.910 --> 00:29:36.780
but Mars\' armour is being forged
at that very moment.

00:29:36.810 --> 00:29:40.180
It\'s like the ultimate humiliation,
the worst deception.

00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:43.100
And this is well depicted
by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.

00:29:43.114 --> 00:29:46.570
Velázquez chose that scene
in a time

00:29:46.600 --> 00:29:49.200
when society would not see it
as we do now.

00:29:49.220 --> 00:29:51.500
If Velázquez was a film director,

00:29:52.120 --> 00:29:56.460
to tell the story right
we need means.

00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:59.843
To make a film we need
good actors and actresses,

00:29:59.871 --> 00:30:01.940
some technical means,
a great script...

00:30:01.970 --> 00:30:04.940
Apollo, who\'s not facing us,
we see him in profile.

00:30:04.970 --> 00:30:06.740
He looks a bit androgynous.

00:30:06.770 --> 00:30:10.460
He\'s placed in profile
to look magnificent and solemn.

00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.000
On the contrary, Vulcan seems
from another world than Apollo\'s

00:30:14.300 --> 00:30:16.460
but he is perfectly outlined.

00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:19.900
We see Vulcan\'s face
and we can tell the way he is,

00:30:19.930 --> 00:30:23.570
growling at his workers
in the forge when they are late.

00:30:23.600 --> 00:30:25.990
All of that is perfectly
outlined in the script.

00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:28.760
Also, the other characters
aren\'t circumstantial,

00:30:28.760 --> 00:30:31.660
they are the workers,
actual narrators of the story.

00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:33.843
One of them is
working on the armour,

00:30:33.857 --> 00:30:38.180
the one for God Mars,
lover of Vulcan\'s wife.

00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:39.660
And what is Apollo telling them?

00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:43.071
It\'s like a comedy of intrigue
from the 17th century

00:30:43.086 --> 00:30:46.240
where everyone comes
at the scene at the right time

00:30:46.270 --> 00:30:48.260
to give us the perfect side
of the story.

00:30:48.280 --> 00:30:50.300
Doing it in a painting
is very difficult.

00:30:50.314 --> 00:30:52.129
Only the best
can do it in a film

00:30:52.130 --> 00:30:54.620
but do it in a painting,
in a single image,

00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:58.043
where nothing can be altered
and each character must nail it

00:30:58.044 --> 00:31:01.700
in timing and action,
that\'s just monumental.

00:31:01.730 --> 00:31:05.181
Velázquez\'s pure talent
grasped an idea

00:31:05.381 --> 00:31:08.632
and transformed it into a painting
to tell us a precise moment.

00:31:08.832 --> 00:31:13.083
When people saw this painting
they probably laughed and thought:

00:31:13.100 --> 00:31:17.492
\"What a clever way
to depict this myth\".

00:31:17.692 --> 00:31:22.330
Every cultured man at the time
Knew Venus and Mars

00:31:22.360 --> 00:31:25.657
and the reasons for Vulcan
to make some decisions,

00:31:25.857 --> 00:31:30.829
but this representation of the myth
was absolutely innovative,

00:31:30.915 --> 00:31:33.000
a very modern way
to tell a story.

00:31:55.640 --> 00:32:01.500
The political and economic power
of Spain is in decline.

00:32:01.530 --> 00:32:03.220
This has to be hidden

00:32:03.250 --> 00:32:08.471
and one of the ways to do it
is removing the King from the Court,

00:32:08.543 --> 00:32:12.220
taking him to a place
to rest and retreat.

00:32:12.250 --> 00:32:18.220
The Buen Retiro Palace
started building in 1629

00:32:18.250 --> 00:32:22.800
when signs of decline
for the Austrians were amounting.

00:32:22.801 --> 00:32:24.385
On one hand,

00:32:24.386 --> 00:32:28.220
the palace is built
as an attempt to praise something

00:32:28.250 --> 00:32:30.460
that was no longer there,

00:32:30.490 --> 00:32:35.070
and on the other hand,
there was a political strategy,

00:32:35.071 --> 00:32:37.099
which is having
the King entertained.

00:32:37.100 --> 00:32:43.049
Olivares, Prime Minister and Favourite,
requested the palace

00:32:43.249 --> 00:32:48.313
since he wanted the King
to care about anything but politics.

00:32:48.314 --> 00:32:52.800
Of course, the palace had
all kind of luxuries

00:32:52.830 --> 00:32:57.460
like a theater or a pond
to make naumachias,

00:32:57.490 --> 00:33:00.500
water paths to ride
feluccas and gondolas...

00:33:00.530 --> 00:33:02.943
In short, an amazing
display of means.

00:33:06.120 --> 00:33:08.900
They built it really fast,

00:33:08.930 --> 00:33:13.860
with poor quality materials
and bricks.

00:33:13.890 --> 00:33:19.432
The building has several patios,
quite stark.

00:33:19.632 --> 00:33:25.330
Ambassadors and visitors back then
described it as unproper

00:33:25.360 --> 00:33:28.540
for the Spanish monarchy.

00:33:28.570 --> 00:33:36.857
The interesting thing is the artwork
used to decorate the place,

00:33:36.871 --> 00:33:39.899
unprecedented at the time
in Europe.

00:33:39.900 --> 00:33:43.700
The main quarter of this palace
is the Kingdoms Hall.

00:33:43.730 --> 00:33:49.460
There, the Count-Duke of Olivares,
along with Velázquez,

00:33:49.490 --> 00:33:54.680
put together a set of works
celebrating the Spanish Monarchy

00:33:54.710 --> 00:33:58.460
and the Spanish Army,
the Spanish Corps.

00:33:58.490 --> 00:34:01.260
The Kingdoms Hall project,

00:34:01.290 --> 00:34:07.050
that was created by a painter,
of course.

00:34:07.080 --> 00:34:10.780
It\'s interesting because through
Velázquez\'s designations

00:34:10.810 --> 00:34:16.243
we see the idealistic future
of the current monarchy.

00:34:19.200 --> 00:34:21.680
I\'d say it\'s an artifice,
even propaganda,

00:34:21.710 --> 00:34:27.600
trying to show strength,
a courage that was no longer present

00:34:27.630 --> 00:34:32.650
representing the country
at international level.

00:34:32.680 --> 00:34:37.480
Among these paintings
we find works of Zurbarán, Cajés,

00:34:37.510 --> 00:34:41.386
Maino, Carduccio and
\"The Surrender of Breda\".

00:34:44.440 --> 00:34:47.000
There he lands
a very important message

00:34:47.100 --> 00:34:50.580
about war and monarchy.

00:34:50.600 --> 00:34:55.501
He\'s implementing
another language in painting,

00:34:55.502 --> 00:35:01.320
a modern language that has
nothing to do with

00:35:01.350 --> 00:35:06.300
the way other Spanish artists
tell their stories.

00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:10.710
The wisdom and knowledge
of this artist is such

00:35:10.910 --> 00:35:17.914
that while most painters
leave their signature and date,

00:35:18.600 --> 00:35:21.957
Velázquez leaves a blank paper
as his signature.

00:35:31.080 --> 00:35:32.960
\"The surrender of Breda\",

00:35:32.990 --> 00:35:36.060
compared with the rest of works
at the Kingdoms Hall,

00:35:36.090 --> 00:35:38.900
it\'s a different painting,
very modern.

00:35:39.186 --> 00:35:47.382
It\'s interesting the message
Velázquez leaves in this painting.

00:35:47.582 --> 00:35:54.860
While others speak of courage
and ego of the Spanish Corps,

00:35:54.880 --> 00:36:00.460
Velázquez shows here a victor
who does not degrade.

00:36:00.486 --> 00:36:05.014
That victor is Spinola,
who bends over him too,

00:36:05.829 --> 00:36:11.186
showing a humanistic,
non-warlike character.

00:36:11.410 --> 00:36:15.580
He has defeated his opponent
but there is no blood there.

00:36:15.600 --> 00:36:17.763
Maybe we can see this in Titian

00:36:17.963 --> 00:36:20.771
and his painting of Charles V
after the battle of Mühlberg.

00:36:21.430 --> 00:36:24.900
Compared to the other works
at the Kingdoms Hall

00:36:24.920 --> 00:36:27.886
this makes a big difference
and a modernity.

00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:36.671
This gesture between the two characters
sends a subliminal message,

00:36:36.729 --> 00:36:40.620
that is, the Hispanic monarchy
which rules over Europe

00:36:40.650 --> 00:36:42.586
is magnanimous with the defeated.

00:36:51.680 --> 00:36:56.370
The setbacks in
the Austrian dynasty

00:36:56.371 --> 00:36:59.086
after the death of the heir,
which will be key,

00:36:59.243 --> 00:37:05.727
after the death of the queen
and significant losses in battles,

00:36:59.290 --> 00:38:02.210
When Olivares falls from grace,

00:37:05.927 --> 00:37:12.060
it all will result in Olivares\' fall
and the failure of his government.

00:37:12.090 --> 00:37:19.120
That reformist government lost
an important part of the empire

00:37:19.150 --> 00:37:24.176
after the revolt of Portugal
and Catalonia in 1640,

00:37:24.376 --> 00:37:29.229
so the monarchy will try to recover it
during the following decade.

00:37:29.610 --> 00:37:34.129
The Count-Duke of Olivares had
a resounding fall from grace,

00:37:34.171 --> 00:37:38.793
in fact his carriage was stoned
as he was leaving Madrid,

00:37:38.993 --> 00:37:42.447
and along with him, part of
his political team fell too.

00:37:42.647 --> 00:37:47.690
Velázquez had come to the Court
by means of Olivares

00:37:47.720 --> 00:37:50.060
but Velazquez himself
remained untouched,

00:37:50.090 --> 00:37:52.471
making a bit of political tightrope.

00:37:52.671 --> 00:37:56.694
We don\'t know well how
but he remained in office

00:37:56.894 --> 00:37:59.260
maintaining his achieved status.

00:38:02.240 --> 00:38:09.900
Velázquez must show discretion
regarding his relationships

00:38:09.930 --> 00:38:18.386
because he\'s been a man of Olivares,
of his group, along with Fonseca, Rioja,

00:38:18.457 --> 00:38:23.800
all that Sevillian group that was
controlling power at the time.

00:38:23.871 --> 00:38:27.000
The Count-Duke of Olivares
reduced expenses

00:38:27.030 --> 00:38:31.020
because money was squandered
absolutely

00:38:31.050 --> 00:38:34.060
and Spain could
no longer afford that.

00:38:34.090 --> 00:38:38.957
That decay stretches
I would say until 1978,

00:38:38.958 --> 00:38:41.400
the decline of Spain
went that far.

00:38:41.610 --> 00:38:46.690
It is clear the empire
has feet of clay.

00:38:46.720 --> 00:38:51.500
Still dominant, but it\'s losing territory
since the Peace of Westphalia.

00:39:02.280 --> 00:39:07.112
In his first trip to Italy
Velázquez goes as an apprentice.

00:39:07.312 --> 00:39:11.020
The second time is different.
He travels as the King\'s man.

00:39:11.050 --> 00:39:16.580
He has an artistic commission
to buy paintings and antiques

00:39:16.610 --> 00:39:20.600
and brings letters
given by Philip IV

00:39:20.630 --> 00:39:25.020
for his ambassadors
to assist Velázquez.

00:39:25.050 --> 00:39:30.000
His commission is rather successful
except for some of his goals.

00:39:30.100 --> 00:39:33.520
He didn\'t bring works
from top artists

00:39:33.550 --> 00:39:38.000
like the most important
fresco painter, Pietro da Cortona.

00:39:42.200 --> 00:39:44.071
Velázquez is
representing the monarchy.

00:39:44.680 --> 00:39:47.740
On his first trip,
Velázquez represented himself.

00:39:47.770 --> 00:39:49.020
He was there to learn.

00:39:49.050 --> 00:39:51.914
Now, he is there
to show who he is.

00:39:57.040 --> 00:40:02.580
He painted Juan de Pareja
who was his helper, his slave,

00:40:02.610 --> 00:40:08.600
and he did it in such a way
that amazed the artistic world.

00:40:13.400 --> 00:40:15.957
He took his slave,
his servant Juan de Pareja,

00:40:15.958 --> 00:40:18.060
and said \"stay there,
I\'m going to portray you.\"

00:40:18.090 --> 00:40:22.680
And he depicted him
with a lace ruff collar,

00:40:22.710 --> 00:40:24.757
something not even free men
could wear.

00:40:24.814 --> 00:40:28.057
He portrayed a slave
with the lace ruff collar

00:40:28.143 --> 00:40:32.780
and an arrogant attitude,
defying society.

00:40:32.810 --> 00:40:37.700
Velázquez painted that to practice
but it had immediate success

00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:40.400
and it was exposed
by the Pantheon Plaza,

00:40:40.420 --> 00:40:42.190
at the \"Accademia dei Virtuosi\",

00:40:42.210 --> 00:40:46.143
and he was praised by
all the Roman society.

00:40:49.360 --> 00:40:52.300
To me, Pareja\'s portrait is
the best one in the history of art.

00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:55.442
It\'s blunt but I really believe so

00:40:55.642 --> 00:40:59.785
because it represents
and demonstrates so much there,

00:40:59.950 --> 00:41:03.740
I think it\'s even better
than the portrait of Innocent X.

00:41:03.760 --> 00:41:07.210
Others will believe
I\'m wrong, of course,

00:41:07.240 --> 00:41:09.240
but portraying the Pope is one thing

00:41:09.260 --> 00:41:11.240
and portraying your own slave
is a challenge.

00:41:11.260 --> 00:41:14.520
He does it following
the Italian classic trend

00:41:14.720 --> 00:41:17.840
with a well studied gesture,
one that reminds us of Titian,

00:41:17.870 --> 00:41:20.380
his great portraits of gentlemen,

00:41:20.410 --> 00:41:24.723
showing all your skills
but naturally and easily,

00:41:24.923 --> 00:41:29.580
the way 19th century artists
were fascinated by Velázquez\'s paintings,

00:41:29.600 --> 00:41:33.540
a seemingly effortless way
but it\'s all extraordinary.

00:41:33.560 --> 00:41:35.964
There\'s also that element
of giving visibility

00:41:36.057 --> 00:41:38.657
to people that didn\'t have it.

00:41:38.786 --> 00:41:43.680
Juan de Pareja\'s painting
is a fantastic act of rebellion.

00:41:43.710 --> 00:41:48.529
Velázquez\'s a painter who treats
the King as well as a court jester.

00:41:49.680 --> 00:41:56.386
He puts the same care in painting both,
commoners and nobles,

00:41:57.720 --> 00:42:02.371
very boldly but
with great human sense.

00:42:15.520 --> 00:42:19.480
That painting also meant to serve
as a bit of publicity for the Pope

00:42:19.480 --> 00:42:25.385
so that he, Roman society,
and painters around the Pantheon,

00:42:25.429 --> 00:42:33.170
would see his mastery
and introduce him in society.

00:42:33.200 --> 00:42:41.943
And he portrayed Innocent X
with proven psychological accuracy.

00:42:42.014 --> 00:42:47.600
That powerful gesture of Innocent X
matches his own personality very well.

00:42:50.920 --> 00:42:54.014
Despite his age
when Velázquez painted him

00:42:54.057 --> 00:42:58.040
he is a character
at the height of his power.

00:42:58.070 --> 00:43:03.060
It\'s a portrait
where the painting itself

00:43:03.090 --> 00:43:06.580
is addressing us,
it\'s questioning us.

00:43:06.610 --> 00:43:11.857
We don\'t judge Innocent X.
Innocent is judging us.

00:43:17.600 --> 00:43:24.000
As the story goes,
after seen his portrait

00:43:24.030 --> 00:43:28.318
the Pope was so shocked
that said \"troppo vero\".

00:43:28.518 --> 00:43:31.676
Everyone can tell how the Pope\'s like
by seeing his portrait.

00:43:31.876 --> 00:43:37.260
The influence that portrait has
in the history of later art is huge.

00:43:37.290 --> 00:43:40.467
Rafael had portrayed Julius II,

00:43:40.667 --> 00:43:45.971
but Velázquez´s portrait of the Pope
is the best of all,

00:43:46.186 --> 00:43:49.860
followed by that \"troppo vero\",
defining the strong character

00:43:49.880 --> 00:43:52.945
of someone who rules
not in heaven but on earth.

00:43:53.145 --> 00:43:55.640
I think this painting
sets a great example

00:43:55.670 --> 00:43:59.340
of adaptation to local taste
because Rome was a special place.

00:43:59.370 --> 00:44:03.540
Surely he thought
he could triumph there

00:44:03.570 --> 00:44:06.086
because Rome was the city of
artists and Popes.

00:44:11.680 --> 00:44:15.100
We don\'t have much info
on Velázquez\'s life,

00:44:15.130 --> 00:44:18.180
on that son he had in
Italy from that lover,

00:44:18.210 --> 00:44:20.900
and the reason is
he\'s thrilled to be in Rome.

00:44:20.920 --> 00:44:23.020
It\'s a modern city.
He doesn\'t want to go back.

00:44:23.050 --> 00:44:26.100
Madrid is a village.
He wants to live the city.

00:44:26.130 --> 00:44:30.300
On his trip to Italy he frees
himself from responsibilities.

00:44:30.330 --> 00:44:32.900
He was like \"I\'m not home,
I will enjoy myself here,

00:44:32.930 --> 00:44:34.720
this is my time now.\"

00:44:34.920 --> 00:44:40.240
He wants to stay because there
his personal life is unrestricted.

00:44:40.270 --> 00:44:43.489
He is living the life he wants
with all freedom.

00:44:43.689 --> 00:44:46.400
He had to be pulled by his ears
to take him back.

00:44:48.640 --> 00:44:52.060
When the King
calls him upon from Italy

00:44:52.080 --> 00:44:53.400
Velázquez turned a deaf ear

00:44:53.430 --> 00:44:55.520
and they had to insist
several times

00:44:55.520 --> 00:44:58.260
through the Duke of Infantado
for him to return to Spain.

00:44:58.290 --> 00:45:04.340
He didn\'t dare to stay
and disobey the King

00:45:04.370 --> 00:45:06.780
but it\'s clear it was hard
for him to come back.

00:45:06.810 --> 00:45:08.800
And he came back
as a different person.

00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:11.143
That\'s obvious.

00:45:11.890 --> 00:45:13.940
Probably his painting changed.

00:45:13.970 --> 00:45:16.360
Many things must have changed.

00:45:16.390 --> 00:45:19.800
Now he was back to that
kind of jail he was in

00:45:19.900 --> 00:45:21.900
and he surely found it hard.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.580
When he portrays the King in 1653

00:45:38.610 --> 00:45:42.340
I\'m not sure if he is portraying
the King or the man,

00:45:42.370 --> 00:45:45.880
a person dejected by the passage of time,

00:45:45.910 --> 00:45:50.060
the melancholy, the signs
of ravages on his face, his hair,

00:45:50.090 --> 00:45:54.380
showing lines and wrinkles
due to failures, disappointments,

00:45:54.410 --> 00:45:58.020
his personal decline, which is
a decline of the monarchy, too.

00:45:58.050 --> 00:46:01.462
It is a mirror of time,
of the monarchy,

00:46:01.662 --> 00:46:05.580
of a person, King Philip IV,

00:46:05.610 --> 00:46:10.086
who was the \"King Planet\"
but now has huge difficulties.

00:46:10.541 --> 00:46:14.197
When seeing that last
painting of Philip IV,

00:46:14.397 --> 00:46:17.279
that kind of twilight vision
of the character,

00:46:17.479 --> 00:46:19.780
of his own monarchy
and empire,

00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:21.200
we must take into account

00:46:21.230 --> 00:46:24.340
how both persons are
at that point.

00:46:24.370 --> 00:46:27.052
Philip IV, exhausted
probably

00:46:27.229 --> 00:46:30.860
by his problems with
the decline of his Crown.

00:46:30.890 --> 00:46:34.260
Velázquez, after decades
living close to the King,

00:46:34.290 --> 00:46:38.820
knowing his facial features
as if they were his own.

00:46:38.840 --> 00:46:42.440
I think about it like a painter
who paints for the umpteenth time

00:46:42.470 --> 00:46:46.820
the landscape of his native land,
his village, his city.

00:46:46.850 --> 00:46:51.380
He knows Philip IV so well that
he\'s allowed certain liberties.

00:46:51.410 --> 00:46:53.860
It is not a royal portrait,

00:46:53.890 --> 00:46:56.860
not a glorious portrait
but a very human one.

00:46:56.880 --> 00:46:59.120
It\'s a portrait of someone
who\'s looked many times

00:46:59.150 --> 00:47:01.860
at that same face
and those same eyes

00:47:01.890 --> 00:47:06.280
and somehow has captured
the truth of the moment.

00:47:06.280 --> 00:47:08.660
That portrait is pure reality.

00:47:08.680 --> 00:47:11.673
Velazquez sometimes
embodies objectivity,

00:47:11.873 --> 00:47:14.200
and here he portrays the King
as he is anatomically.

00:47:14.230 --> 00:47:19.580
He is not idealized
as many earlier Kings.

00:47:19.610 --> 00:47:25.140
The funny thing is the King
only wants to be portrayed by him.

00:47:25.170 --> 00:47:28.860
One thing is a mirror
and another thing is a painting.

00:47:28.890 --> 00:47:34.140
In the mirror you look at yourself,
you look older and you leave.

00:47:34.170 --> 00:47:35.829
But the paint stays.

00:47:35.900 --> 00:47:37.970
He makes no concessions
to anyone.

00:47:37.990 --> 00:47:39.729
If they were ugly,
they were painted ugly.

00:47:41.017 --> 00:47:44.160
It is even picturesque.

00:47:45.514 --> 00:47:48.614
This man was the King
with that silly face

00:47:48.650 --> 00:47:52.380
but he spoke four languages ​​
and knew about art, how could it be?

00:47:52.410 --> 00:47:56.180
He painted people as they were
and everyone accepted it.

00:47:56.210 --> 00:47:58.100
Velazquez\'s brush

00:47:58.130 --> 00:48:03.140
was depicting the obituary
of a dying empire,

00:48:03.170 --> 00:48:04.643
an empire that was ending.

00:48:21.320 --> 00:48:25.520
Regarding the granted idea
we have about artists,

00:48:25.520 --> 00:48:30.280
arised in the 19th century
with Romanticism,

00:48:30.310 --> 00:48:36.020
a fanciful idea of
bohemian artists,

00:48:36.050 --> 00:48:39.580
against the tide, ragged and
misunderstood by society,

00:48:39.610 --> 00:48:43.420
that romantic idea
is broken by Velazquez

00:48:43.440 --> 00:48:45.840
because he was there before
and he was part of his time.

00:48:45.840 --> 00:48:48.462
I think we get carried away
by artist biographies.

00:48:48.662 --> 00:48:50.488
We have placed them
in a cliché.

00:48:50.688 --> 00:48:53.740
To be a great artist
you must be accursed,

00:48:53.770 --> 00:48:57.672
spend a horrible life,
worried about paying bills,

00:48:57.872 --> 00:49:02.256
but that bohemian and romantic idea
did great damage

00:49:02.456 --> 00:49:06.300
and even created unsustainable clichés
from an educational point of view,

00:49:06.320 --> 00:49:09.500
because for centuries we sent
the message that to be a great painter

00:49:09.520 --> 00:49:12.860
or a great actress
you must have a terrible life.

00:49:12.880 --> 00:49:15.060
But Velázquez is actually
the antithesis of all that.

00:49:15.090 --> 00:49:20.140
Many times, the romantic idea
of artists is rather a reflection,

00:49:20.160 --> 00:49:23.500
I\'d say a kind of desire.

00:49:23.520 --> 00:49:24.786
In the case of Velazquez,

00:49:24.814 --> 00:49:26.900
he is literally
an antidote to loathing,

00:49:26.930 --> 00:49:30.593
because he contradicts
those ideas.

00:49:30.793 --> 00:49:35.314
He got to the top and beyond,
as Buzz Lightyear would say

00:49:35.357 --> 00:49:37.049
he reached infinity.

00:49:37.050 --> 00:49:38.620
No painter of his time

00:49:38.640 --> 00:49:40.900
born where Velázquez was,
as good as he was,

00:49:40.920 --> 00:49:43.780
might have envisioned
to reach his position.

00:49:43.800 --> 00:49:46.210
That\'s important to realise
his accomplishments

00:49:46.240 --> 00:49:49.200
because we see him sometimes
as an official figure.

00:49:49.229 --> 00:49:51.260
We don\'t know much about him

00:49:51.280 --> 00:49:54.360
but we know he did rather well
so we take him for granted.

00:49:54.390 --> 00:49:56.420
We need an accursed story.

00:49:56.450 --> 00:49:59.820
Without it, it seems hard
for us to grasp him.

00:49:59.840 --> 00:50:02.100
But you must look at
Velázquez with other glasses,

00:50:02.130 --> 00:50:05.500
the glasses that value
his boldness,

00:50:05.530 --> 00:50:10.160
his bravery and his ability,
from his privileged position,

00:50:10.190 --> 00:50:15.629
to take painting centuries
into the future, literally.

00:50:24.560 --> 00:50:28.210
He felt nobility was the only way
to be valued in his time.

00:50:28.240 --> 00:50:30.720
Back then, if you didn\'t belong
to certain families

00:50:31.171 --> 00:50:33.140
you were an ordinary person.

00:50:33.160 --> 00:50:35.195
There are good examples
in the Baroque era

00:50:35.395 --> 00:50:37.560
of great artists
we praise much today

00:50:37.590 --> 00:50:39.543
who actually were
little more than servants.

00:50:39.600 --> 00:50:45.700
Being noble meant things
that mattered a lot to him.

00:50:46.043 --> 00:50:49.357
Firstly,
let suspicions be dropped

00:50:49.529 --> 00:50:53.371
about him being a \"swine\",

00:50:53.486 --> 00:50:56.540
as Jewish converts were called.

00:50:57.570 --> 00:51:02.314
And secondly,
painting was a menial job,

00:51:02.457 --> 00:51:06.414
a low class one,
a craft,

00:51:06.443 --> 00:51:09.580
and he strived for
painting to become

00:51:09.610 --> 00:51:14.500
one of the important arts
in the world and at the Court,

00:51:14.530 --> 00:51:19.057
and that could only happen
if there were noble painters.

00:51:20.410 --> 00:51:24.460
In the 17th century,
the Order of Santiago supposed

00:51:24.490 --> 00:51:27.271
a prestige and an approach
to the elite,

00:51:27.514 --> 00:51:30.100
somehow matching you
with personalities

00:51:30.130 --> 00:51:33.320
that had higher ranks,

00:51:33.350 --> 00:51:36.420
regarding their place
in society from birth.

00:51:36.450 --> 00:51:41.661
What Velázquez tried,
through the Order of Santiago,

00:51:42.257 --> 00:51:45.014
was to climb the social ladder.

00:51:46.170 --> 00:51:49.460
He put all his effort in it
for a good part of his career.

00:51:49.490 --> 00:51:55.040
In order to be Knight
of the Order of Santiago,

00:51:55.040 --> 00:51:57.541
Velázquez had to follow
some bureaucratic steps

00:51:57.614 --> 00:52:00.147
and one of them was
the \"pure breed\" certificate,

00:52:00.347 --> 00:52:03.160
proving that none of his ancestors
was neither a Jewish convert,

00:52:03.190 --> 00:52:07.500
Moorish, illegitimate child, etc.

00:52:07.530 --> 00:52:10.166
That process is
very interesting socially

00:52:10.366 --> 00:52:12.920
because Velazquez
committed several violations.

00:52:12.950 --> 00:52:15.790
First one, he didn\'t provide
his entire family tree,

00:52:15.815 --> 00:52:18.649
he only presented his line
up to his grandparents,

00:52:18.670 --> 00:52:21.000
when requirement was
up to his great-grandparents.

00:52:26.600 --> 00:52:28.857
It was actually
a murky process.

00:52:28.957 --> 00:52:33.914
When he started in Seville
and was considered to be

00:52:33.957 --> 00:52:36.660
one of the best painters
of his time,

00:52:36.680 --> 00:52:38.920
he never imagined he\'d have
to face a situation that challenged

00:52:38.950 --> 00:52:43.200
his own nature as an artist since
he\'d charged for painting in the past.

00:52:43.829 --> 00:52:46.240
And suddenly,
in order to be a knight,

00:52:46.270 --> 00:52:49.671
those payments were a big obstacle
so he had to do some \"tricks\".

00:52:50.450 --> 00:52:52.900
I would underline three statements.

00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:55.340
One is from the Controller
of the Cathedral of Granada,

00:52:55.370 --> 00:52:57.460
another is from
a neighbour in Seville

00:52:57.490 --> 00:53:01.940
and another is from the executor
of nobility status.

00:53:01.970 --> 00:53:05.180
They three are acquaintances
very close to Velázquez

00:53:05.210 --> 00:53:09.193
who stated he\'s never worked
for an economic profit.

00:53:09.393 --> 00:53:11.560
He paints basically
for pleasing the King

00:53:11.590 --> 00:53:15.180
and actually his job
is Royal Usher,

00:53:15.200 --> 00:53:17.540
Valet, all these things
he did at the Court.

00:53:17.570 --> 00:53:19.740
Actually, of those
three individuals,

00:53:19.770 --> 00:53:24.660
the neighbour from Seville
was Zurbarán,

00:53:24.690 --> 00:53:28.140
the executor of Hidalgos was
Juan Carreño de Miranda,

00:53:28.170 --> 00:53:32.100
and the Controller from the
Cathedral of Granada was Alonso Cano.

00:53:32.120 --> 00:53:34.000
None of them stated
he was a painter

00:53:34.040 --> 00:53:36.312
because they were actually
covering each other.

00:53:36.512 --> 00:53:39.210
They lied like rascals saying
Velázquez never received any money

00:53:39.240 --> 00:53:42.451
because if he got into
the Order of Santiago

00:53:42.651 --> 00:53:44.080
he\'d open its doors for them.

00:53:44.080 --> 00:53:49.129
They might get that social level

00:53:49.130 --> 00:53:51.260
and achieve that rank of nobility.

00:53:51.290 --> 00:53:54.752
The various steps to enter
the Order of Santiago,

00:53:54.952 --> 00:54:00.060
as it was in a society
based on bureaucracy,

00:54:00.090 --> 00:54:03.660
were conditioned
by its officials,

00:54:03.690 --> 00:54:06.620
their infringements

00:54:06.650 --> 00:54:09.180
and covering.

00:54:09.210 --> 00:54:16.460
The King asked the Pope for a bull
to skip those bureaucratic steps

00:54:16.480 --> 00:54:21.800
but the Council of the Order
refused alleging \"lack of rank\".

00:54:21.830 --> 00:54:24.720
So the King himself despaired,

00:54:24.720 --> 00:54:26.940
because this process
was lasting months,

00:54:26.970 --> 00:54:28.660
and he finally said:

00:54:28.690 --> 00:54:31.880
\"I am the King,
no one on Earth is over my rank

00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:36.000
and I have a papal bull
so Knight him, period.\"

00:54:36.080 --> 00:54:37.980
And they did, indeed.

00:54:37.981 --> 00:54:41.371
Once the King said that,
it was all over

00:54:41.372 --> 00:54:44.429
and he was granted the Cross
of the Order of Santiago.

00:54:47.880 --> 00:54:53.329
So due to that help he\'s now
Knight of the Order of Santiago,

00:54:53.414 --> 00:55:01.100
belonging to a lineage
that endorses a social position.

00:55:01.450 --> 00:55:04.340
The fact he succeeded
explains his place

00:55:04.360 --> 00:55:06.900
within the artistic world
of his time,

00:55:06.920 --> 00:55:10.080
his importance within the Court

00:55:10.110 --> 00:55:14.100
in order to do such a complicated
thing, administratively,

00:55:14.129 --> 00:55:16.614
and it explains how Velázquez
considered himself.

00:55:27.920 --> 00:55:31.143
It\'s hard to know if Velázquez
and the King were friends

00:55:31.144 --> 00:55:34.300
because there are no documents
endorsing it as such

00:55:34.330 --> 00:55:39.086
but Velázquez\'s behaviour
according to historical documents

00:55:39.200 --> 00:55:43.986
lead us to think he took some liberties
with the King many people wouldn\'t.

00:55:45.480 --> 00:55:49.186
The King had a chair
at Velázquez\'s workshop

00:55:49.443 --> 00:55:52.980
and they would debate
about art and other things.

00:55:53.010 --> 00:55:54.771
Were the King and Velázquez friends?

00:55:55.400 --> 00:55:57.500
I personally believe
a King has no friends.

00:55:57.530 --> 00:56:01.900
In the 17th century, befriend
a monarch was not possible.

00:56:01.920 --> 00:56:04.500
Of course I wasn\'t there
but it is very unlikely,

00:56:04.530 --> 00:56:08.995
although it is clear Philip IV
had a great taste on painting,

00:56:09.195 --> 00:56:10.660
he knew how good he was

00:56:10.690 --> 00:56:14.000
and that was the trump card
Velázquez will play along his career.

00:56:27.160 --> 00:56:30.180
\"The Fable of Arachne\" is
one of the best examples

00:56:30.210 --> 00:56:36.580
that confirms Velázquez as one
of the best painters of his time,

00:56:36.610 --> 00:56:40.500
in that triad of Rubens,
Rembrandt and him.

00:56:40.530 --> 00:56:44.541
There, he is not only
depicting a myth

00:56:44.741 --> 00:56:46.900
but he is telling us a story.

00:56:46.930 --> 00:56:52.980
Precisely, in his early years in the Court
he was criticised for not doing it.

00:56:53.010 --> 00:56:55.469
Here the characters are very dramatic.

00:56:55.669 --> 00:57:02.340
\"The Spinners\" is exactly
that plea to enroll

00:57:02.370 --> 00:57:06.700
in that breed of great artists,

00:57:06.730 --> 00:57:09.420
names like Titian, Rubens,

00:57:09.450 --> 00:57:13.580
but then again
he goes further

00:57:13.610 --> 00:57:16.967
and there we find
odd characters,

00:57:17.167 --> 00:57:19.936
some faceless spinners,
out of focus,

00:57:20.136 --> 00:57:23.886
within a painting we can\'t see well
what\'s there, its factions.

00:57:25.360 --> 00:57:29.000
His painting doesn\'t only
stands out for his skills,

00:57:29.100 --> 00:57:32.210
meaning colour,
meaning freedom,

00:57:32.240 --> 00:57:36.260
painted stains creating
viewer\'s perception

00:57:36.290 --> 00:57:40.350
and how he builds that reality,
that space among characters.

00:57:40.550 --> 00:57:45.217
His painting also stands out
as an art of creation, of ideas,

00:57:45.417 --> 00:57:52.000
and therefore of painting
as one of the main liberal arts.

00:58:04.640 --> 00:58:07.043
Velázquez before and after
his trip to Italy

00:58:07.044 --> 00:58:10.460
are two different persons,
he does really innovative things now.

00:58:10.480 --> 00:58:13.440
Those steps are very interesting
because they anticipate somehow

00:58:13.470 --> 00:58:16.771
the artist who builds
his own career.

00:58:17.329 --> 00:58:19.375
He\'s his own manager.

00:58:19.575 --> 00:58:23.129
We have to imagine all that
because there is nothing written,

00:58:23.329 --> 00:58:26.216
but we do see he\'s always
like gluing pieces,

00:58:26.416 --> 00:58:29.576
completing the puzzle
to be the painter he aspires to.

00:58:29.776 --> 00:58:33.000
So after painting \"The Spinners\"
and \"Las Meninas\"

00:58:33.040 --> 00:58:35.980
maybe he thought he was already
the painter he aspired to.

00:58:36.010 --> 00:58:40.440
It\'s such a personal painting,
so honest to himself,

00:58:40.470 --> 00:58:43.989
to the way he has evolved

00:58:44.189 --> 00:58:49.131
from his homeland\'s dark tones
and his short, thick brushstroke

00:58:49.331 --> 00:58:52.471
until the triumph of light
and the \"distant spots\",

00:58:53.450 --> 00:58:57.620
a painting, we can say,
almost subjective

00:58:57.650 --> 00:59:02.400
where he comprehends
optics and the reaction

00:59:02.430 --> 00:59:05.780
of his vibrant brushstroke
on the viewer\'s retina.

00:59:05.810 --> 00:59:09.103
Velázquez adapted
to his audience very well.

00:59:09.303 --> 00:59:13.257
In current terms, he gave
his audience what they wanted,

00:59:13.714 --> 00:59:18.620
confident he was
a master of technique.

00:59:18.650 --> 00:59:21.060
He was a very good painter
and he knew it.

00:59:21.080 --> 00:59:23.140
We see his first works in Madrid

00:59:23.170 --> 00:59:25.500
and they are to some extent
a bit conventional

00:59:25.520 --> 00:59:28.240
but executed by somebody
who\'s technically gifted.

00:59:28.270 --> 00:59:33.820
Velázquez approaches painting
from the perspective of thoughts

00:59:33.850 --> 00:59:38.140
and hence all that justification,

00:59:38.170 --> 00:59:42.000
especially in \"Las Meninas\"
and other works,

00:59:42.100 --> 00:59:46.314
of an intellectual,
nearly conceptual painting,

00:59:46.490 --> 00:59:49.443
a painting that speaks by itself
and challenges itself.

00:59:55.560 --> 00:59:59.700
Most of Velázquez\'s career
is a line of successes

00:59:59.720 --> 01:00:01.980
and that allows him
to innovate

01:00:02.010 --> 01:00:06.980
because if he was to depend
on pleasing customers,

01:00:07.000 --> 01:00:09.589
with clients always
coming and going,

01:00:09.789 --> 01:00:13.480
it would have been difficult
for him to be so innovative,

01:00:13.480 --> 01:00:16.861
for instance on his
painting approach to history,

01:00:17.061 --> 01:00:19.480
to myths or to portraits
at the Court.

01:00:20.760 --> 01:00:26.657
Velázquez is a painter
incredibly photo-realistic.

01:00:26.686 --> 01:00:30.400
But that way of depicting reality
did not last long.

01:00:30.400 --> 01:00:33.240
We know it was something that
went out of fashion quite quickly.

01:00:33.270 --> 01:00:36.020
The impact of his work
was such

01:00:36.050 --> 01:00:39.943
that when his model saw
the portrait, nothing could be said.

01:00:44.200 --> 01:00:46.543
Velázquez is not interested
in religious painting,

01:00:46.760 --> 01:00:49.180
he has four paintings,
maybe three or four

01:00:49.210 --> 01:00:51.900
and some of them
not very interesting.

01:00:51.920 --> 01:00:53.820
He is not interested
in history painting,

01:00:53.850 --> 01:00:58.460
but it is the portrait
he is most interested in.

01:00:58.490 --> 01:01:01.680
On one hand, he\'s interested in it
to be close to the powerful,

01:01:01.710 --> 01:01:05.120
because the closer he is to them,
the more power he manages,

01:01:05.150 --> 01:01:09.060
more knowledge,
more favours he can ask

01:01:09.090 --> 01:01:12.914
and the portrait is precisely
what allows him that proximity.

01:01:37.360 --> 01:01:39.700
What does \"Las Meninas\" mean
for Velazquez?

01:01:39.730 --> 01:01:41.340
The culmination of his painting.

01:01:41.370 --> 01:01:45.000
It is the summit of everything
he\'s been learning over time.

01:01:46.600 --> 01:01:51.000
It\'s a controversial painting.
It\'s been vastly debated and discussed,

01:01:51.176 --> 01:01:54.560
yet we\'ll never
reach an agreement.

01:01:54.590 --> 01:01:58.000
And its interest lies there.

01:01:58.829 --> 01:02:03.500
In order to make that painting
Velázquez needed his back covered,

01:02:03.530 --> 01:02:06.980
a social status earned
along his career

01:02:07.010 --> 01:02:10.210
but also a complicity with
Philip IV and the Court.

01:02:10.240 --> 01:02:12.020
Who created that painting?

01:02:12.050 --> 01:02:14.180
Where does the idea come from?
Is it from Velazquez?

01:02:14.210 --> 01:02:16.340
Is it shared?
Is it agreed?

01:02:16.370 --> 01:02:19.060
How do you end up making
such a strange painting?

01:02:19.080 --> 01:02:22.900
Regarding its comprehension,

01:02:22.930 --> 01:02:27.280
how it is physically made,
its scope,

01:02:27.357 --> 01:02:30.114
its depiction.
It\'s a work that judges

01:02:31.171 --> 01:02:34.643
the concept of ​​painting,
what does painting mean.

01:02:41.960 --> 01:02:44.000
It doesn\'t say
\"I am a work of art\".

01:02:44.020 --> 01:02:46.860
You have to find out it is
and that\'s very interesting to me.

01:02:46.890 --> 01:02:49.700
\"Las Meninas\" is
the most important one

01:02:49.757 --> 01:02:52.780
because it rips the curtain
showing utter reality to us.

01:02:52.800 --> 01:02:54.800
One of the modern things
Velazquez does

01:02:54.886 --> 01:02:57.300
is literally introducing
ourselves into the painting,

01:02:57.330 --> 01:03:00.740
breaking that fourth wall
between the viewer and the work,

01:03:00.770 --> 01:03:04.260
almost putting us in a kind of
virtual reality of the 17th century.

01:03:04.280 --> 01:03:08.100
It might be the greatest example of
pre-tech virtual reality in art history,

01:03:08.200 --> 01:03:11.340
because that is actually
what he\'s trying.

01:03:11.370 --> 01:03:13.900
It wasn\'t usual for a painter
to have those aspirations.

01:03:13.920 --> 01:03:16.700
Even the most realistic ones,
such as Caravaggio,

01:03:16.730 --> 01:03:21.343
didn\'t reach that level
of narrative production.

01:03:21.690 --> 01:03:28.286
Hence that idea of ​​\"open painting\"
and its multiple explanations,

01:03:28.287 --> 01:03:30.114
all different to one another.

01:03:30.129 --> 01:03:35.210
Surely it\'s the picture
that can never be explained.

01:03:35.240 --> 01:03:40.129
Maybe the interest in \"Las Meninas\"
lies precisely there.

01:03:48.160 --> 01:03:50.640
Painting something like this
at that time

01:03:50.670 --> 01:03:53.460
wasn\'t easy,
it was unusual.

01:03:53.480 --> 01:03:56.839
Painting was usually used
to show people things

01:03:57.039 --> 01:03:59.828
that did not exist in the world:

01:04:00.028 --> 01:04:05.660
the apotheosis of a saint or the
martyrdom of a biblical character.

01:04:05.690 --> 01:04:10.552
But Velázquez uses those elements
to show us a quarter in the Alcazar

01:04:10.752 --> 01:04:14.540
rather shady with several
characters around,

01:04:14.560 --> 01:04:17.360
as if we had a peephole
to royal family\'s daily life

01:04:17.390 --> 01:04:21.780
through a painting where actually
nothing special is happening.

01:04:21.810 --> 01:04:26.843
I see \"Las Meninas\"
like an art house film

01:04:27.086 --> 01:04:31.100
in which we see a ten minutes shot
and nothing happens

01:04:31.120 --> 01:04:32.900
and we start feeling
a little nervous.

01:04:32.920 --> 01:04:37.000
But we must read between the lines
to realise something is happening

01:04:37.030 --> 01:04:39.020
and something major.

01:04:39.040 --> 01:04:44.005
It happens that a man is saying:
\"I\'m a painter and that\'s key,

01:04:44.025 --> 01:04:46.474
it makes me important
in the society of my time,

01:04:46.674 --> 01:04:48.980
and I\'ll to go down in history
with this work.\"

01:04:49.010 --> 01:04:53.100
In his Meninas
Velázquez appears exalted.

01:04:53.130 --> 01:04:57.660
He is the tallest character
and he depicts himself younger,

01:04:57.900 --> 01:05:00.300
he\'s ideallisticaly represented.

01:05:00.320 --> 01:05:02.086
With \"Las Meninas\"
he hit the jackpot

01:05:02.157 --> 01:05:05.540
because he brakes the trend
of painting history

01:05:05.570 --> 01:05:09.060
showing himself in the painting,
which is key.

01:05:09.090 --> 01:05:11.740
There is a painter in a place
he doesn\'t belong to.

01:05:11.770 --> 01:05:15.020
The rest of the painting
is rather understandable.

01:05:15.050 --> 01:05:17.950
The incomprehensible is
Velázquez is within the painting.

01:05:18.150 --> 01:05:21.740
Also, he\'s occupying
a huge part of it aside a canvas,

01:05:21.770 --> 01:05:24.660
the highest symbol of his craft.

01:05:24.680 --> 01:05:30.800
Back then,
it brought off a real coup,

01:05:30.860 --> 01:05:33.800
as if you stepped
a foot in the door

01:05:33.820 --> 01:05:35.600
like saying
\"I have my foot in,

01:05:35.600 --> 01:05:38.540
you can\'t close the door now
because I\'m here,

01:05:38.560 --> 01:05:41.943
I know my significance
and value in this Court

01:05:41.986 --> 01:05:45.400
and I can afford doing this.\"

01:06:02.160 --> 01:06:04.580
He is an artist
who challenged himself.

01:06:04.610 --> 01:06:06.980
Maybe that\'s why
Velazquez\'s paintings

01:06:07.000 --> 01:06:09.880
are still very relevant,
even academically,

01:06:09.910 --> 01:06:12.140
at any art school.

01:06:12.160 --> 01:06:15.171
Because he creates
and uses strategies

01:06:15.243 --> 01:06:19.143
that are suitable,
that are revolutionary.

01:06:19.286 --> 01:06:24.760
His technique and artistic
value explains

01:06:24.790 --> 01:06:28.280
why Velázquez
never fell into decline.

01:06:28.310 --> 01:06:33.940
There is no stage of decay in him,
he is constantly changing,

01:06:33.960 --> 01:06:36.980
riding the top of the wave
because he controls that wave.

01:06:37.010 --> 01:06:40.740
It is really difficult for an artist
to create a personal world

01:06:40.770 --> 01:06:42.180
but Velazquez did.

01:06:42.200 --> 01:06:44.800
Velázquez taught us his way
of seeing a historical event,

01:06:44.820 --> 01:06:47.400
painting a piece of history
that\'s actually his depiction,

01:06:47.429 --> 01:06:49.000
his way of seeing history.

01:06:49.100 --> 01:06:52.200
He made all elements his own,
like saying

01:06:52.250 --> 01:06:55.500
\"these are the big themes
of painting history

01:06:55.530 --> 01:06:58.260
but I\'ll explained them
from my point of view.\"

01:06:58.280 --> 01:07:00.400
Not many artists
did that before

01:07:00.400 --> 01:07:02.660
and neither after.

01:07:02.680 --> 01:07:04.820
That is Velazquez\'s
big contribution.

01:07:04.850 --> 01:07:07.412
Looking at his work
is like opening a door

01:07:07.612 --> 01:07:11.000
to a way of seeing the world
that\'s only his, very special,

01:07:11.120 --> 01:07:12.540
a door to subjectivity,

01:07:12.560 --> 01:07:15.348
a door to facing \"Las Meninas\"
one day and see something

01:07:15.548 --> 01:07:19.686
and see another different
a month after.

01:07:19.840 --> 01:07:22.918
He\'s telling us \"I\'m painting
a painting within this painting,

01:07:22.990 --> 01:07:25.500
you don\'t know what it is
and you never will.\"

01:07:28.840 --> 01:07:32.502
He ruptured reality
searching for other elements.

01:07:32.702 --> 01:07:37.380
His highest rupture is \"Las Meninas\"
since it\'s reality based,

01:07:37.410 --> 01:07:41.980
showing a fourth dimension
where space and time break,

01:07:42.010 --> 01:07:44.620
where Velázquez\'s always
looking at us.

01:07:44.650 --> 01:07:47.050
That\'s why it is
so contemporary.

01:07:47.370 --> 01:07:49.260
He is aware of his painting,

01:07:49.290 --> 01:07:52.080
breaking time
to be present in the future.

01:08:05.080 --> 01:08:06.800
June 29, 2022.

01:08:06.821 --> 01:08:09.175
NATO leaders meet in Madrid.

01:08:09.201 --> 01:08:12.300
More than forty Chiefs of State
participate in the summit.

01:08:15.081 --> 01:08:16.700
Almost four centuries later,

01:08:16.850 --> 01:08:20.081
Power is still approaching Art
for endorsement.

01:08:30.081 --> 01:08:37.081
RUBENS. \"Diana and her nymphs surprised by satyrs\".
1639 - 1640. Oil on canvas.

01:08:41.081 --> 01:08:49.081
VELÁZQUEZ. \"Las Meninas\" (The Family of Philip IV)
1656. Oil on canvas.

01:08:53.081 --> 01:09:02.000
TITIAN. \"Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg\"
1548. Oil on canvas.

01:09:04.581 --> 01:09:12.081
RUBENS. \"Apostolate Series\"
1610-1612. Oil on board.

01:09:15.081 --> 01:09:25.081
RUBENS.
\"The Immaculate Conception\". 1628-1629. Oil on canvas.
\"Apostolate series\". 1610-1612. Oil on board.