Diego Velazquez – Portrait of a Man

Between the rack and the Judas chair (not one to look up if you’re at all squeamish), the Spanish Inquisition were people you didn’t want to mess with. Diego Velázquez was either fearless or felt protected when he set about painting from live nude models. Only his ‘Rokeby Venus’ survives today.

Velázquez (or Velasquez as the Brits liked to spell it up until the 19th century) proved to be a great source of inspiration to artists such as John Singer Sargent, who would have been introduced by his Spanish teacher Carolus-Duran.

Following the Sargent Pen and Ink study, I drew a smallish study of Diego’s ‘Portrait of a Man’ in vine charcoal, and took a few work in progress photographs so as to create a tutorial. It’s now available online, so for anybody who is interested, please take a look : Velazquez, Portrait of a Man