Paintings between 1641 and 1650

In the 1640s Velázquez continued to paint the excellent portraits of dwarfs and fools such as the dwarfs El Niño de Vallecas, Sebastian de Morra and El Primo. With his brilliant powers of observation and his psychological sensitivity, Velázquez recorded every detail of the physical abnormalities and confused minds of this curious class of society.

As a court painter, Velázquez was required to paint group portraits as well as portraits of individual figures. Another of the tasks required of Velázquez, though to a lesser extent, was the painting of altarpieces. The Coronation of the Virgin was painted around 1645, possibly for the queen's oratory in the Alcázar in Madrid.

Velázquez was sent in 1649 to Rome, where he made two of his greatest portraits, one of Pope Innocent X and another, of his studio assistant Juan de Pareja, a Sevillian of Moorish descent. He also painted the Rokeby Venus, his only surviving picture of this kind, which remained unique in Spain until Goya depicted the Naked Maja, which was probably inspired by it.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 13 minutes):
Arcangelo Corelli: Sonata in D minor (La Follia) op. 5 No. 12