Diego Velazquez
Art in the Classroom
For this presentation you will need the two paintings:
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Prince Baltasar Carlos on a Pony (1634) and Princess Margarita Maria
3 Velazquez activity boards (Who’s Who in the Royal Family, Portraits, and Portrait
Composition)
ISpy cards
Please keep in mind that this presentation has lots of things to discuss and explore about
his work. You will need to pick and choose in order to keep to your time limit. Enjoy!
Diego Velasquez
Personal Data:
Diego Velazquez was born in 1599, in Seville, Spain. He died in 1660 in Madrid, Spain. He
was the oldest of six children, and his parents were from minor nobility.
Professional Data:
Velazquez was a Baroque style painter which was a style popular in the 17th century during
the Counter Reformation, mostly in Catholic countries. It is a style in which painters and
architects tried to convey emotion, movement and variety in their works. Painting saints
and madonnas did not interest Velazquez as much as real people did; instead, he painted
people on the street, in stores, and working. These everyday scenes were called
“bodegones”. They were popular but much too common to be considered works of art.
Velazquez then took those realistic qualities that he became so proficient at capturing and
put them in his religious scenes, giving them a new realism. After a trip to Italy in 1629,
Velazquez began to use silvery tones and a wider range of color. His brushstrokes
became freer, his shadows more transparent and his portraits took on a luminous quality.
He is often compared to Renoir (1841-1919) and the two are unrivaled in their ability to
paint children.
Between the ages of 12 and 18, Velazquez worked as an apprentice to Francisco Pacheco, a
famous Spanish painter, who also became Velazquez’s father in law. In 1623, Velazquez
was summoned to Madrid and appointed “Painter to the King”. The king was sixteen year
old Philip IV. Velazquez spent the next thirty years of his life painting the Spanish royal
family of King Philip IV.
Prince Baltasar Carlos on a Pony (1634)
The prince, about age five at the time he sat for this
portrait, exudes confidence as he grasps the reins and
sits manfully in the saddle. His little legs reached only
halfway down his pony’s bulging flanks, but his feet
were firmly planted in his stirrups, his back was erect
and his reins held high. He is shown here in his uniform
as a little king, holding the staff of command and
wearing across his chest the pink sash that denotes the
highest military rank. His baby face is boldly painted.
He is regal in bearing and yet still a child.
This portrait is nearly seven feet high. The painting
was intended to hang over a doorway between the
portraits of his parents, in the king’s ballroom, the Hall
of Realms. Velazquez had to take this into account in
depicting the prince’s pony. When the pony is seen head on, the pony’s belly appears
bloated, but when seen from below, the rider and pony seem less distorted. (You can show
the students this by raising the artwork and tilting it away from their eyes at a 45 degree
angle.) To the viewer, seeing it from below, the painting has an even more startling impact.
In this work, Velazquez brushed on his paint so thinly that shadows seem transparent and
features seem hazy. The shadow of the hat that crosses the prince’s brow is but a mere
suggestion. The eyes seem mere dots and the nose an indistinct blob. Bright
impressionistic touches of color on the bridle and the saddle, the clear blue of the sky, a
fluttering pink scarf with a gold fringe, and the child’s rigid hold on the baton serve to
increase the boy’s air of fragility. This picture of a horse and rider cantering across the
slopes outside of Madrid was bathed in fresh outdoor light.
Discussion of painting:
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Ask the students to tell you what they think is the story of the painting. (The
prince is five. He is wearing fancy clothes because he is someone important, the
son of King Philip IV of Spain. He is riding in the countryside outside of Madrid,
Spain. He appears serious and proud. He is an expert at riding a horse. The way
his feet are secured, his erect posture, and the way he grasps both the reins and
the baton show us that he is an expert.)
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Ask them if they think it was difficult for a five year old to sit for a portrait.
(Often artists painted the child first and then filled in the details of the portrait
once the child was finished sitting.) You can discuss with them the difference
between then and now. Portraits were only done of the wealthy and powerful,
because it cost a great deal of money to hire a painter. Today, however, we have
cameras on our phones and we have lots of documentation of our family’s lives.
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Use the Elements of Art Posters for further discussion:
How does Velazquez show the importance of the prince? Space: by placing him
front and center in the painting and by taking up the most space. Color: the colors
on him and the horse stand out more than the colors in the background. Light: the
light falls on his face and the shadow falls on the ground and the sky which acts as
a frame for the prince.
Which diagonal lines show motion? (The horse, the baton, and scarf) Which
vertical lines show stillness? (The prince)
Princess Margarita Maria
Velazquez painted more portraits of this
little princess than any other member of
the royal family. Princess Margarita, who
later became the Empress of Austria at
the age of fifteen, was the darling of the
court. The fair-haired princess looked
like a little doll dressed in long dresses
covered with bows, ornaments, and lace.
Velazquez, however, knew the princess as
she really was: a lively, willful child. He
knew he had to paint quickly before the
princess became too restless.
In this work she is about five or six years
old, still soft and round with her baby
flesh and gold hair. Against a background
of shades of brown, the head of the child
stands out like a flower or a patch of
sunlight in a dark room. Her elaborate dress is painted in silvery tones of pearly
gray, contrasted with black velvet. Ribbons, bows, and flowers in soft reds give a
young and vibrant quality to the painting. Interestingly, the severe atmosphere of
the painting also expresses the child’s destiny as inseparable from that of the
state.
Discussion of painting:
 What has the artist tried to tell us about this little girl? Is she wealthy?
 How is her dress different from what we wear today?
 Can we tell much about her personality from the way the artist has posed her?
 Do you think she is having fun? How long do you think she has to stay like that?
 Is this portrait flattering? Realistic? Are there details?
 Where is she looking? Does the fact that she is looking at us make us feel that she
is important? (Yes, as opposed to having downcast eyes.)
 Why did people (the royal family in this case) have their portraits done? (There
were no photos.)
 COLOR: What color is in the background? Do you think you would get the same
feeling from this painting if she were standing in a pink room? Is there one
dominant color? What are the only splotches of color in this? Do you think the
artist did this deliberately? Do they form a pattern or rhythm?
 LIGHT: Is there natural light? Where is it coming from? Does that make her
seem more important to the viewer?
Other possible activities:
Several activity boards have been created to enhance discussion about Velazquez.
For all grades:
Activity Board #1: Who’s Who in the Royal Family?
Look at this board to find Velazquez’s paintings of members of the royal family. Compare
Prince Baltasar Carlos on a Pony to his father, King Philip IV on a Pony.
Find Baltasar Carlos’ mother, Queen Isabel of Bourbon.
Find Princess Margarita’s mother, Queen Mariana of Austria.
Compare the paintings of Princess Margarita over time. Guess her age in each one.
Then turn the board over to I SPY:
On this board, we see Velazquez’s painting Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor). The board
also shows a version of this painting by Picasso using his cubist interpretation. This
painting is a group portrait of the royal family with Velazquez himself actually in the act of
painting. There are I SPY cards in the white binder to use to find people and objects in
both paintings.
Activity Board #2: Portrait:
In the center of this board, portraits are explained. Around the board are samples of
portraits painted by various painters. On the top left corner is Velazquez’s Prince Baltasar
Carlos with a Dwarf. Questions under each painting focus on the five clues portraits
contain to help you get to know the people: 1) clothes 2) pose 3) setting 4) expression and
5) objects
Then turn the board over to Portraits of Today:
Use the five clues portraits contain to make observations about these modern day
portraits.
You may suggest that students go home and try drawing a portrait of their own family,
adding details which tell how their family is special and what they like doing when they are
together.
For older grades:
Activity Board #3: Portrait Composition by Velazquez
Discuss the elements of composition by showing students how Velazquez arranged Old
Woman Cooking Eggs in two concentric circles and The Water Seller in an X.
Then turn the board over to Composition in Portraits
Play “Can you find?” Have students find people in the pictures who are arranged in various
geometric patterns (triangle, circle, stairs, symmetry).