Gaspar de Guzmán, Count Duke of Olivares on horseback, after Velázquez

Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez)|Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

1778 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

This is one of a number of etchings Goya made after paintings by the esteemed Spanish artist Diego Velázquez that were in the royal collection in Madrid. Velázquez’s painting of Count-Duke of Olivares—King Philip IV’s prime minister—dates to about 1636. It shows the count astride a rearing stallion, raising a baton and looking directly at the viewer before commanding a battle. In his etching, Goya diminished the battle; the horses and soldiers are fewer and harder to make out. By reducing much of the foreground to areas of light and dark and leaving parts of the background unetched, Goya emphasized the count’s powerful figure.

Artist

Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez)|Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

Date

1778

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, Rogers Fund, and Gift of Theodore De Witt, by exchange, 1931