Portrait of Innocent X

Velázquez painted this portrait of Pope Innocent X in 1650, during his second stay in Italy. It shows the pontiff seated in an armchair, his gaze fixed and his brow furrowed. The pope reportedly agreed to sit as an exception, since popes did not usually pose for foreign painters; Velázquez's reputation as court painter to Philip IV, and perhaps an earlier acquaintance with the sitter, help explain the decision. The sittings are documented for August of that year, and the painting carries on the paper the pope holds an inscription with the artist's name and his Spanish court office.

What stands out most is the psychology of the image. Rather than flattering the sitter as many contemporaries did, Velázquez conveys a tense and wary personality. The untidy beard and reddish complexion reflect direct observation rather than an ideal. According to a well-known anecdote, the pope, on seeing the finished work, exclaimed 'Troppo vero!', that is, too truthful, though he could not deny its quality.

Technically, the colour scheme is especially striking: the red curtain, the red armchair and the pope's red robe overlap in warm tones without losing force, while the face remains the focal point. The brushwork is looser than in the artist's early works, yet he keeps precision in fabrics and objects. The painting follows the coloristic tradition of Titian and the Venetian school more than Impressionism, with which it is sometimes compared, somewhat mistakenly.

The work has stayed within the same family since it was painted and seldom leaves Rome, so its loan to the Prado and the National Gallery in London in 1996 was exceptional. Admired by Joshua Reynolds and Hippolyte Taine, it is now a landmark of Baroque portraiture. Francis Bacon also produced many reinterpretations of the figure. Several replicas and copies of differing attribution and size exist, including those in Apsley House in London and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, whose authorship is still debated.

Painter

Diego Velázquez

Date

1700

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

141 × 119 cm

Museum

Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

Movement

Spanish Baroque painting

Genre

portrait

Depicts

Innocent X

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