Portrait of Sebastián de Morra

Portrait of Sebastián de Morra

Artist	Diego Velázquez
Year	c. 1645
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	106.5 cm × 81.5 cm (41.9 in × 32.1 in)
Location	Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Portrait of Sebastián de Morra is a portrait by Diego Velázquez of Sebastián de Morra, a court dwarf and jester at the court of Philip IV of Spain. It was painted in around 1645 and is now in the Prado in Madrid.

Velázquez portrays his whole body, sitting on the ground, wearing a rich cloak and with his short legs pointing forward in an inelegant position reminiscent of a marionette. He looks directly at the viewer, motionless, making no hand gestures, leading one critic to suggest that the painting represents a denunciation of the court's treatment of de Morra and other dwarfs.^[1] While Velázquez's naturalistic and charitable depictions of the invalids and dwarfs maintained by the court strongly suggests he, as court painter, felt some empathy with their situation, the painter's opinions are not known in any documented fashion.^[2]

References

↑ Andreas Prater, "The Baroque" in The masters of western painting, Taschen, 2005, page. 270, ISBN 3-8228-4744-5
↑ For a representation of a court dwarf in Medici Court, see Niccolò Cassana.

External links

Velázquez , exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this portrait (see index)

Velázquez jester portraits

Barbarroja Francisco Lezcano Calabacillas Don Diego de Acedo Don John of Austria Pablo de Valladolid Sebastián de Morra Prince Balthasar Charles with a Dwarf

Diego Velázquez (List of works)

Genre	The Lunch (c. 1617) Old Woman Frying Eggs (c. 1618) The Farmers' Lunch (1618) The Three Musicians (1618) The Waterseller of Seville (1618–1622) The Kitchen Maid (1620–22) The Needlewoman (c. 1635–43)

History	The Triumph of Bacchus (1628–29) Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan (1629) The Surrender of Breda (1634–35) Mars Resting (1640) Rokeby Venus (c. 1647–51) Female Figure (1648) Las Hilanderas (c. 1657)

Religious	Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (1618) San Pablo (1618–20) Adoration of the Magi (1619) Joseph's Tunic (1630) Temptation of St. Thomas (1632) Christ Crucified (1632) Coronation of the Virgin (c. 1641–44)

Portraits	Jerónima de la Asunción (1620) Don Luis de Góngora (1622) Philip IV in Armour (after 1623) Count-Duke of Olivares (1624) The Infante Don Carlos (1626–27) Maria Anna (1630) Philip IV in Brown and Silver (1630s) Portrait of a Man (c. 1630) Prince Balthasar Charles with a Dwarf (1631) Doña Antonia de Ipeñarrieta y Galdós and Her Son Don Luis (1634) Count-Duke of Olivares (1635) Prince Balthasar Charles as a Hunter (1635) Juan Martínez Montañés (1635–36) Pablo de Valladolid (1636–37) Lady with a Fan (1638–39) Philip IV in Fraga (1644) Sebastián de Morra (c. 1645) Francisco Lezcano (1645) Pope Innocent X (1650) Juan de Pareja (1650) Mariana of Austria (1652) Las Meninas (1656) Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress (1659) Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain (1659) Prince Philip Prospero (1659) Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Pink Dress (1660)

Equestrian portraits	Elisabeth of France (c. 1628–36) Count-Duke of Olivares (1634) Margarita of Austria (1634) Philip III (1634–35) Philip IV (1635–36) Prince Balthasar Charles (1635)

Jesters	Don John of Austria (1632–1633) Barbarroja (1633) Calabacillas (1637–39) Don Diego de Acedo (1645)

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