Spanish Art in the Museums of Madrid

The Museum del Prado showcased a vast range of paintings that made use of many themes such as religion, culture, royalty, mythology, romance, identity, and many more. The extensive art collection exposed the viewer to many styles and techniques that had the proficient ability to tell stories, create scenarios, and exhume the past.
Several paintings caught my eye, particularly those done by Velasquez. Upon my visit, I’d developed an appreciation for the painter’s use of rich colors, his attention to and utilization of detail, and his realistic approach to the human body. One of the paintings that I paid the most attention to was his work entitled The Buffoon Sebastian de Morra, initially from the Royal Collection. It is a portrait that was done circa 1646, in the medium of oil on canvas, with the dimensions of 106.5cm x 82.5cm . The subject encompasses the majority of the painting, set in the center, with a small amount of space framing him. The colors involved in the painting contrast with each other, the background being earth-toned, and the subject being painted in more vibrant colors such as red, green, and flesh-toned.
The subject, Don Sebastian de Morra, was a dwarf that initially served in the court of Cardinal-Infante don Fernando in Flanders and subsequently served in the Spanish court of Prince Baltasar Carlos in 1643 as a buffoon. He was a dwarf that suffered from Achondroplasia, a cause of dwarfism resulting in short-limbs (Closet-Crane, 2005).
There is a degree of simplicity in the painting, particularly in the way that Velasquez simply made use of space to surround the subject. If it weren’t for the manner in which Velasquez varied the tones of the background through his use of light, the subject would have appeare...

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...iling de las humanidades y las ciencias sociales, 1(25), 155-164. Retrieved February 11, 2014, from the Academia database.
The Buffoon Sebastian de Morra. (n.d.). Museo Nacional del Prado: On-line gallery. Retrieved February 11, 2014, from https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/on-line-gallery/obra/the-buffoon-sebastian-de-morra/
The Nude Maja. (n.d.). Museo Nacional del Prado: On-line gallery. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/on-line-gallery/obra/the-nude-maja/
Web Gallery of Art, image collection, virtual museum, searchable database of European fine arts (1000-1900). (n.d.). Web Gallery of Art, image collection, virtual museum, searchable database of European fine arts (1000-1900). Retrieved February 11, 2014, from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/v/velazque/07/0703vela.html