An Old Woman Frying Eggs
Artist: Diego Velázquez
Year Composed: 1618
Artistic Movement: Baroque
Nationality: Spain
Floor Found in Château: First Floor
Year Composed: 1618
Artistic Movement: Baroque
Nationality: Spain
Floor Found in Château: First Floor
About the Artwork
Painted in 1618, Diego Velázquez gave the art world his An Old Woman Frying Eggs. This genre scene painting shows literally that, an elderly woman frying eggs in a skillet over a little hot plate. A young boy is on the canvas left while ingredients and dinnerware are placed on a table on the bottom-right of the canvas. Viewers are unable to see most of the background due to the extreme dark lighting and the effects of chiaroscuro, or the extreme contrasts between light and dark tones within the painting. If the background was lit similarly to the two figures and the objects in the foreground, the painting would not carry the same tension and emotion as it does with the dark backdrop.
About the Artist
As the leading painter of King Philip IV's court, Spanish artist Diego Velázquez was the preeminent master of the Spanish Baroque Age. Replicating the style of Caravaggio with his extreme use of chiaroscuro, Velázquez was able to exhibit an abundance of drama and emotion within his paintings. Aside from his genre scenes, Velázquez depicted portraits and scenes of Spanish nobility, including his paintings of Philip IV in Brown and Silver (1632), Portrait of Pablo de Valladolid (1635), and his most famous work: Las Meninas (1656). If Caravaggio was the master of dramatic, tenebrist paintings in Italy, Velázquez was his counterpart in Spain.
About the Movement
An Old Woman Frying Eggs was composed in the Baroque Age of art. After the Renaissance Age, Baroque art was encouraged and influenced by the Catholic Church and the Counter Reformation to bring citizens back to Catholicism from the simple and austere Protestantism. Baroque art tended to be highly decorative and extravagant, creating dramatic scenes and vivid narratives through its painting and sculpture. Some of the most famous Baroque artists included Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the Carracci Brothers (Annibale, Agostino, and Ludovico), Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, and Pietro da Cortona.
Location of Original Work of Art: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Painted in 1618, Diego Velázquez gave the art world his An Old Woman Frying Eggs. This genre scene painting shows literally that, an elderly woman frying eggs in a skillet over a little hot plate. A young boy is on the canvas left while ingredients and dinnerware are placed on a table on the bottom-right of the canvas. Viewers are unable to see most of the background due to the extreme dark lighting and the effects of chiaroscuro, or the extreme contrasts between light and dark tones within the painting. If the background was lit similarly to the two figures and the objects in the foreground, the painting would not carry the same tension and emotion as it does with the dark backdrop.
About the Artist
As the leading painter of King Philip IV's court, Spanish artist Diego Velázquez was the preeminent master of the Spanish Baroque Age. Replicating the style of Caravaggio with his extreme use of chiaroscuro, Velázquez was able to exhibit an abundance of drama and emotion within his paintings. Aside from his genre scenes, Velázquez depicted portraits and scenes of Spanish nobility, including his paintings of Philip IV in Brown and Silver (1632), Portrait of Pablo de Valladolid (1635), and his most famous work: Las Meninas (1656). If Caravaggio was the master of dramatic, tenebrist paintings in Italy, Velázquez was his counterpart in Spain.
About the Movement
An Old Woman Frying Eggs was composed in the Baroque Age of art. After the Renaissance Age, Baroque art was encouraged and influenced by the Catholic Church and the Counter Reformation to bring citizens back to Catholicism from the simple and austere Protestantism. Baroque art tended to be highly decorative and extravagant, creating dramatic scenes and vivid narratives through its painting and sculpture. Some of the most famous Baroque artists included Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the Carracci Brothers (Annibale, Agostino, and Ludovico), Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, and Pietro da Cortona.
Location of Original Work of Art: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom