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The water carrier of Seville

Diego Velazquez • Painting, 1622, 106.7×82 cm
$54.00
Digital copy: 1.0 MB
2371 × 3200 px • JPEG
82 × 106.7 cm • 73 dpi
40.1 × 54.2 cm • 150 dpi
20.1 × 27.1 cm • 300 dpi
Digital copy is a high resolution file, downloaded by the artist or artist's representative. The price also includes the right for a single reproduction of the artwork in digital or printed form.
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About the artwork
Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Genre scene
Style of art: Baroque
Technique: Oil
Materials: Canvas
Date of creation: 1622
Size: 106.7×82 cm
Artwork in selections: 33 selections
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Description of the artwork «The water carrier of Seville»

Picture "The water-carrier of Seville" (about 1618-1622) refers to the early Seville period, when the young velázquez enthusiastically wrote bodegon – household sketches, which takes place in a tavern or in a restaurant, in the wine cellar or in the kitchen. Up to the present day survived about a dozen early bodegones Velasquez, but only "water carrier of Seville" he took with him to Madrid where will take place the whole of his creative life and where Velasquez will be great. It is regarded as evidence that the picture was him especially valuable.

Now "the water carrier of Seville" is stored in London, at Apsley house (Apsley House) – residence of the Dukes of Wellington. Author's copy, represented in the Uffizi gallery, is perceived as a parody: the water pot on it equipped with a hunting hat with visor (just like the heroes of picaresque novels), and figure Piwigo water men in the background is not soluble in the dark background, as in the first "Pitcher", but rather written out too clearly, why the picture at once loses and depth of the space and aura of mystery.

Hard to believe that Velasquez barely turned twenty when he wrote "the water-carrier": such virtuosity in the transmission of the textures of the objects is achieved by long-term exercise, and for many it is not an achievable degree of skill. Incredibly realistic clay sides pot-bellied jugs, so convex, if they are made in 3D technique. Accidentally spilled water hydrates the clay and makes it darker, drops three-dimensional and transparent. Gorgeous glass and glass with the figs on the bottom – it was traditional for the time velázquez way to make water taste more soft and fresh. A lot of hype is even such a trifle as the eyebrow of an elderly water carrier. He is depicted in profile and looking at his face up close, darkening your eyebrows will be just a splat with intricate contours. But as soon as we retire for the distance from which the entire composition is revealed to us as a whole, the eyebrow and the entire profile of the water-carrier look hammered, as on a coin.

Still, hardly the image of pots and pitchers, no matter how realistic-tactile, they may seem to be the only goal of Velasquez. The artist was a superbly educated man, knew several languages, read the classics of philosophy and theorists of painting. Art theorist Francisco Pacheco was not only his teacher but also a father-in-law. So inquiring mind of the viewer is not satisfied and the apparent simplicity of "the water-carrier of Seville". For household cleaning specifics bodegon (Spanish word "bodega" means "tavern" or "wine cellar") wants to reveal the secret knowledge and hidden meanings.

For example, "the water-carrier" can be viewed from the point of view of numerology. Three, as you know, in most philosophical systems, the sacred number, and arrangement of "water boy" clearly is based on triangles. First, facing the top down, be a boy, a middle-aged man and the water boy. The second triangle, completely mirrored the first, consists of items: two pitchers and a glass. The third triangle consists of a coat of water-pot and lit the edge of the table. The fourth triangle (like the first, it is turned upside down) – a glass of water.

The religious interpretation of the picture says that the old water-pot your prayer rigor and close-cropped hair reminiscent of a wandering monk of some order. Then transmitted to other life-giving water is a symbol of the Holy spirit, in accordance with the 4th Chapter of the gospel of John where Jesus says to the woman of Samaria: "...but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to eternal life" (Jn. 4:14) This, however, is hampered by personal religious indifference of Velasquez. Philosopher and sociologist josé Ortega y Gasset on this account, he said: "Velasquez is a militant atheist, an atheist is simply enormous. He casts out the gods with a brush so actively, as if sweeping with a broom COP".

And finally, the third interpretation of the pattern suggests that "the water carrier of Seville," depicting the boy, adult male, and the old man is not just bodegon, and the poetic narrative of the three ages of human life.

Author: Anna Yesterday
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