It was completed during the years 1634–1635, inspired by Velázquez's visit to Italy with Ambrogio Spinola, the Genoese general who conquered Breda on June 5th of 1625.
This painting was a assignment to Velázquez from Philip IV. In the early 1630s, a massive project to build and decorate a new palace for Philip IV was underway outside of Madrid.
Philip IV
Called Buen Retiro, the palace was intended as a retreat for the king and his court. In addition to the temporary spectacles that were there, Buen Retiro came to house a big collection of art by some of the greatest painters of 17th century in Spain.
Drawing of the Buen Retiro Palace
http://ep00.epimg.net/ccaa/imagenes/2013/10/21/madrid/1382381507_853821_1382383386_noticia_normal.jpg
Among the works commissioned for the palace was a series of twelve paintings for the Hall of Realms, where royal audiences and other ceremonies took place. The paintings, by different artists, depicted recent Spanish victories.
Technical data:
- Type: Oil on canvas.
- Dimensions: 307 cm x 367 cm (121 in x 144 in).
- Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.
The Surrender of Breda commemorates the capture of the city of Breda during the Eighty Years’ War, a conflict between Spain, which controlled the Low Countries, and the Dutch, who were fighting for political independence.
This painting is a perfect representation of the collection of atmospheric and chromatic light.
This painting shows the third day after the battle between Spain and the Netherlands. The work is not focused on the battle itself, but rather in the reconciliation. That’s why both armies, the Spanish on the right and the Dutch on the left, although days before were killing each other in battle, here they share a peaceful atmosphere, which contrasts with the smoke coming up from fires at the background.
The canvas is divided into five horizontal bands, which are the foreground, the area of activity and focus, a view of Breda in the distance, the countryside and the blue sky and horizon. The horizon is very high, and represents the threatening atmosphere there is due to the conflict between the Spanish and the Breda peoples. All bands except for the one with the two peoples are painted in rather muted and dark colors to represent the sadness and tension of the Breda militaries. A line of vertical spears behind the Spanish is balanced by the Dutch weapons being closer to the left to show a diagonal approach of the Spanish. At the main focus the commander of the Dutch army, Justin Nassau, gives the keys of the city to Spinola. The key represents the key of the painting as a whole, locking all other components into place. On the right is the tilted flag, and below the horse's legs, the document of surrender is in the lowest right. On Nassau, his white ruff and sleeves represent surrender of his town. The whole picture represents Velazquez's attempt to snapshot what actually happened, showing how one officer is staring at the viewers and another is gazing at the distant sky. He did this to make the viewers believe that the painting was an actual capture of what happened during the capture of Breda.
Details of The Surrender of Breda.
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In this painting we can recognize different features of the Baroque style, like: movement, use of olil painting, predominance of colour over drawing, use of warm colours, contract of light and shadow, complex compositions in order to shock the curdience (asymmetry, curved lines), realism in representations…
Diego Velázquez
He was a Spanish painter who was the main artist in the court of King Philip IV and one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist.
http://www.nndb.com/people/913/000071700/velazquez-sm.jpg
Velázquez is often cited as a key influence on the art of Édouard Manet, important when considering that Manet is often considered the bridge between realism and impressionism.
The importance of Velázquez's art even today is evident, considering the respect with which 20th century painters consider his work.
Pablo Picasso presented a homage to Velázquez in 1957 when he recreated Las Meninas in 58 variations, in his characteristically cubist form.
Édouard Manet.
Pablo Picasso presented a homage to Velázquez in 1957 when he recreated Las Meninas in 58 variations, in his characteristically cubist form.
The Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon found Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X to be one of the greatest portraits ever made. He created several expressionist variations of this piece in the 1950s. One such famous variation, entitled Figure with Meat (1954), shows the pope between two halves of a bisected cow.
Velázquez is called the "painter of painters".
Sources:
Atlas ilustrado de la Historia del Arte, Susaeta.
Historia del Arte, Vicens Vives. J. R. Triadó Tur, M. Pendás García, X. Triadó Subirana.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_rendici%C3%B3n_de_Breda
http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/v2/obras/31.htm
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3 comments:
Hello,
These are my corrections to your text:
It was completed during the years 1634–1635, inspired by Velázquez's visit to Italy with Ambrogio Spinola, the Genoese general who conquered Breda on June 5th of 1625.
This painting was an assignment to Velázquez from Philip IV. In the early 1630s, a massive project to build and decorate a new palace for Philip IV was underway outside of Madrid.
Called Buen Retiro, the palace was intended as a retreat for the king and his court. In addition to the temporary spectacles that were there, Buen Retiro came to house a big collection of art by some of the greatest painters of 17th century in Spain.
Among the works commissioned for the palace was a series of twelve paintings for the Hall of Realms, where royal audiences and other ceremonies took place. The paintings, by different artists, depicted recent Spanish victories.
Technical data:
• Type: Oil on canvas.
• Dimensions: 307 cm x 367 cm (121 in x 144 in).
• Location: El Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain.
The Surrender of Breda commemorates the capture of the city of Breda during the Eighty Years’ War, a conflict between the Hispanic Monarchy, which controlled the Low Countries, and the Dutch, who were fighting for political independence.
This painting is a perfect representation of the collection of atmospheric and chromatic light.
This painting shows the third day after the battle between the Hispanic Monarchy and the rebel Low Countries. The work is not focused on the battle itself, but rather in the reconciliation. That’s why both armies, Philip IV’s army on the right and the Dutch on the left, although days before were killing each other in battle, here they share a peaceful atmosphere, which contrasts with the smoke coming up from fires at the background.
The canvas is divided into five horizontal bands, which are the foreground, the area of activity and focus, a view of Breda in the distance, the countryside and the blue sky and horizon. The horizon is very high, and represents the threatening atmosphere there is due to the conflict between Philip IV’s army and the Breda people(s). All bands except for the one with the two peoples are painted in rather muted and dark colours to represent the sadness and tension of the Breda military men. A line of vertical spears behind Philip IV’s army is balanced by the Dutch weapons being closer to the left to show a diagonal approach of the Hispanic soldiers. At the main focus the commander of the Dutch army, Justin of Nassau, gives the keys of the city to Spinola. The key represents the key of the painting as a whole, locking all other components into place. On the right is the tilted flag, and below the horse's legs, the document of surrender is in the lowest right. On Nassau, his white ruff and sleeves represent surrender of his town. The whole picture represents Velazquez's attempt to snapshot what actually happened, showing how one officer is staring at the viewers and another is gazing at the distant sky. He did this to make the viewers believe that the painting was an actual capture of what happened during the capture of Breda.
Details of The Surrender of Breda.
In traditional scenes of surrender in early modern Europe, generally the winner was showed raised above the vanquished.
In this painting we can recognize different features of the Baroque style, like: movement, use of oil painting, predominance of colour over drawing, use of warm colours, contrast of light and shadow, complex compositions in order to shock the audience (asymmetry, curved lines), realism in representations… All this you say here are general features and nota ll are present on the painting.
The rest in another comment
All this you say here are general features and not all are present on the painting.
Diego Velázquez
He was a Spanish painter who was the main artist in the court of King Philip IV and one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist.
Velázquez is often cited as a key influence on the art of Édouard Manet, important when considering that Manet is often considered the bridge between realism and impressionism.
The importance of Velázquez's art is evident even today, considering the respect with which 20th century painters consider his work.
Pablo Picasso presented a homage to Velázquez in 1957 when he recreated Las Meninas in 58 variations, in his characteristically cubist form.
The Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon found Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X to be one of the greatest portraits ever made. He created several expressionist variations of this piece in the 1950s. One such famous variations, entitled Figure with Meat (1954), shows the pope between two halves of a bisected cow.
Velázquez is called the "painter of painters".
The description of the painting is good, but you haven’t done a correct explanation of the Baroque features that we can observe on this painting: the complex composition is the most outstanding feature and also the blurred lines, foreshortened figures…
It’s evident that your brother has helped you, but you could have done a better work. Your mark is 8.5.
Remember that Spain didn't exist at that moment.
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