Don Sebastian de Morra
Diego Velazquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV, and one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age.
Max Resolution:336×450 PX
Title:Don Sebastian de Morra
Artists:Diego Velazquez
Date:c.1645
Style:Baroque
Genre:portrait
Medium:oil,canvas
Location:Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
Dimensions:81×106 cm
Copyright:Public domain
The Portrait of Sebastián de Morra is a portrait by Diego Velázquez of Sebastián de Morra, a court dwarf and jester at the court of Philip IV of Spain. It was painted in around 1645 and is now in the Prado in Madrid.
Velázquez portrays his whole body, sitting on the ground, wearing a rich cloak and with his short legs pointing forward in an inelegant position reminiscent of a marionette. He looks directly at the viewer, motionless, making no hand gestures, leading one critic to suggest that the painting represents a denunciation of the court's treatment of de Morra and other dwarfs. While Velázquez's naturalistic and charitable depictions of the invalids and dwarfs maintained by the court strongly suggests he, as court painter, felt some empathy with their situation, the painter's opinions are not known in any documented fashion.
Velázquez portrays his whole body, sitting on the ground, wearing a rich cloak and with his short legs pointing forward in an inelegant position reminiscent of a marionette. He looks directly at the viewer, motionless, making no hand gestures, leading one critic to suggest that the painting represents a denunciation of the court's treatment of de Morra and other dwarfs. While Velázquez's naturalistic and charitable depictions of the invalids and dwarfs maintained by the court strongly suggests he, as court painter, felt some empathy with their situation, the painter's opinions are not known in any documented fashion.