Diego Velázquez - Portrait of the Count of Olivares (c. 1640)


Portraits a face requires technique, portraying a character and a personality requires being an artist.
Diego Velázquez is called to portray this man, apparently good-natured but in reality he is Don Gaspar de Guzamn: count of Olivares and almighty minister of Philip IV of Spain.
His tight lips, his pale face, and his gaze convey to us his choleric personality of someone who is used to relying only on his own strength.
The chiaroscuro is here of a mastery to envy the best master of painting.

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