In Focus: Velazquez

Comprehensive online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the life and work of Velazquez.

Jo Walton led us clearly through the subject with excellent illustrations and an emphasis on works owned by the gallery itself.

She started with his early street work which I love and talked about the symbolism in it as well as emphasising the delightful still-lives he included. We then talked about how he went to Madrid and became the court painter and we looked in detail at the work he did for them.

Alongside this we looked at his mythical and historic works as well, of course, looking in more detail at the Rokeby Venus and Las Meninas.

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