Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/520

 490 Painting he studied Titian, Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese; t he went to Rome, where he copied a large part of the Last Judgment by Michelangelo, the School of Athens by Raphael, and other works of these two great rivals in fame. After more than a year occupied with these labours done in retirement, and after having visited Naples and his fellow-countryman Ribera, Velazquez returned to Madrid in 1631, with his talent ripened and matured. The artist received a splendid welcome at the court, and Velazquez from that time occupied without dispute the first rank among the painters of his country. A commission given him by this prince for the purchase of some works of art caused him to return to Italy in 1648. He could then visit Florence, Bologna and Parma, whither he was at- tracted by the works of Correggio. On his return to Madrid, Velazquez continued his labours peacefully until his death. We now pass to the consideration of his works. Sixty- nine paintings by him are now collected in the Museum at Madrid, and in this number are included all his principal pictures ; that is to say, except a very few carried out of Spain either as royal gifts or as the spoils of war, the whole works of Velazquez are in this museum. He tried every style, and succeeded in all ; he painted with equal success history (profane, at least), portraits, both on foot and on horseback, men and women, children and old men, historic landscapes, animals, interiors, flowers and fruits. We will neither notice his small dining-room pictures (bodegones) nor his little domestic scenes in the Flemish style. The most celebrated of his landscapes, at all events at Madrid, are a View of Aranjuez and a View of the Prado.