© Great Works of Western Art
1599 Born in Seville.
1610 Enters the studio of Francisco Pacheco.
1611 Signs an apprenticeship contract lasting for six years.
1617 Velázquez is licensed to work as an independent painter.
1618 He marries Pacheco’s daughter Juana.
1623 Pacheco’s good connections with the court result in a commission to paint a portrait of the king in Madrid. This is a great success and he immediately enters the service of Philip IV.
1628 Peter Paul Rubens arrives at the Spanish court representing Charles I of England on a diplomatic mission. He stays for many months and Velázquez is greatly influenced by him.
1629 The king gives him permission to visit Italy and provides him with letters of introduction. He visits Venice, Bologna and Rome.
1630 Velázquez is in Naples.
1631 Returns to Madrid.
1643 He is appointed Ayuda de Cámara.
1649 Velázquez visits Italy again in order to purchase works of art for the king and to contract painters to work on palace improvements. Visits Milan, Venice, Florence, Bologna and Parma and then stays in Rome.
1650 While in Rome he executes several influential works including the portrait of Innocent X which was greatly admired.
1651 Returns to Spain.
1656 Paints his masterpiece, Las Meninas.
1658 Velázquez is granted the title Knight of Santiago.
1660 He is responsible for the organisation of the ceremonial meeting, on the Franco Spanish border, of Philip IV and Louis XIV during which the French king took the Infanta María Theresa as his bride. Velázquez becomes ill on his return to Madrid and dies.
c1616 The Three Musicians, Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
1618 Three Men at a Table, St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum
1618 Old Woman Cooking Eggs , Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland
c1618 Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, London, National Gallery
c1618 St John the Evangelist on the Island of Patmos , London, National Gallery
1618 Kitchen Scene (La Mulata), Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland
1618 The Immaculate Conception, London, National Gallery
1619 The Water Carrier of Seville , London, Wellington Museum, Apsley House
1619 The Adoration of the Magi, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
1620 Abbess Jerónima de la Fuente, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
1620 The Lunch, Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts
1620 The Supper at Emmaus, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
1624–27 Philip IV, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
c1628 Christ after the Flagellation contemplated by the Christian Soul, London, National Gallery
1629 The Triumph of Bacchus, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
1630 Joseph’s Coat Presented to Jacob, Madrid, Escorial
1630 Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
c1632 Philip IV of Spain in Brown and Silver, London, National Gallery
1632 Don Baltasar Carlos with a Dwarf, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts
1634 Don Juan Mateos, Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
1635 Surrender of Breda, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
c1635 Coronation of the Virgin, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
c1635 The Infante Baltasar Carlos on Horseback, London, Dulwich Picture Gallery
1632–37 Philip IV Hunting Wild Boar, London, National Gallery
1641 Mars, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
1644 Don Diego de Acedo, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
1650 Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphini
c1650 The Rokeby Venus, London, National Gallery
1653–4 Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Pink Gown, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
1656 Las Meninas, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
1659 Infante Philip Prosper, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
1659 Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
1644–60 Philip IV, King of Spain, London, Dulwich Picture Gallery
