Diego Velázquez

Chapter 8 is all about the principles of design and how it is used in art. One piece caught my attention more than all the others, Diego Velazquez’ painting The Maids Of Honor (1656). This particular painting stood out to me because of the way the Infantas white dress grabs the eye away from everything else in the image. Not only does the light illuminate the child it pulls attention to her gaze, and how she is looking out at something not seen in the painting. Now that the artist has you…

In 1656 Diego Velazquez painted Las Meninas for King Philip IV of Spain, at the height of the Baroque artistic period. Baroque was intense and dramatic, used sharp contrast in lighting, vivid color, and was also noted for realism. It reflected the post-Renaissance Catholic Church's intent to bring more people into faith by allowing them to reflect on art and its connection to spirituality. “Las Meninas allows the spectator to freely interact with the painting’s various contradictory points of…

Through the history, some battles were decisive for the development of any country or people while some battles annihilate cultures and entire civilization. This dispute occurs by people looking for gold or other goods, or in many cases by imposing a specific religion, but usually, both are interconnected. Some characters played a significant role in the history as they conquest new lands and new worlds. One of these characters was Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, one of the biggest…

Las Meninas is a painting by Diego Velazquez. It was painted in 1656 and translates to The Maids of Honor. It portrays King Philip IV’s daughter, Infanta Margarita, the princess. Later in 1957, Pablo Picasso, another Spanish painter, combined his cubistic style and crazy color palate to make an interesting and original idea for the classic Las Meninas painting. Diego Velazquez's Las Meninas was focused on the the maids. It is obvious because the of the title and he has all of the…

but it originated about a year before then with Diego Velázquez, a high leader in Spain who was also a conquistador had decided that after two failed attempts of going to America he had one final attempt. On the 23rd of October, 1518, Velázquez and Cortés made an agreement that, Cortés would go from Cuba to Mexico to make trade arrangements with the indigenous tribes there but no orders to conquer or settle were made. One reason suggests that Velázquez wanted the conquering to be left to him for…

He was sponsored by the King and accompanied by Diego Velazquez. When Cortés arrived, he immediately was considered impressive to the colony. He soon took responsibility as treasurer and made sure that the King received the customary one-fifth of the profits from the gold and slaves. According to his letters…

After the fight with Velazquez, he confronted Montezuma and killed him when he was told that Montezuma was unable to get the Aztecs to accept Cortez as their leader. The death of Montezuma led to the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521. Faithful to his own religious beliefs, he…

Diego Velazquez was born in the 1600’s, and was a renowned painter of the Baroque period. Known most famously for his painting, Las Meninas, Velazquez inspired and was emulated by numerous artists. Beginning in 1611, for six years he apprenticed at the hand of Francisco Pacheco, acquiring skills on how to paint with an idealized style. However, after his apprenticeship, Velazquez shifted techniques to paint with a more realistic manner. Following his first commission by the royal family of…

Based on the presentations of Cortés’ and Pizarro’s conquests, I would have preferred to have been involved in Cortés’ expedition over Pizarro’s because Cortés’ willpower and determination were to be greatly admired. His drive to conquer was his defining characteristic, with his famous burning of the boats a symbol that can resonate even in today’s context. He was the most notable of the early Spanish conquistadors, conquering arguably the most difficult of the three ancient Latin American…

Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador and explorer that traveled from Spain to the New World when he was only 19. In the New World, he commanded just 600 soldiers and was able to conquer the Aztec empire who commanded tens of thousands of men. He was able to perform this astonishing feat by using strategy, ruthlessness, cunning, and an extreme amount of luck. After his conquest in the New World, Cortes became the governor of New Spain. After seven years of being the governor he was appointed…