Diego Velazquez was born in Seville, Andalucía and was the firstborn child of Joao Rodrigues da Silva and Jeronima Velazquez, in the year 1599. His baptism was done within either a few weeks or few days of his birth. Diego’s grandparents from his father’s side were merchants, who moved to Seville from Portugal where they originally hailed from and there was a high likelihood they were Jewish converts. Diego was home schooled by his parents, being taught languages and philosophy. In his early childhood Diego was discovered to be a talented artist and was sent to be mentored by Francisco de Herrera, a prolific artist who did not show much Italian influence in his paintings as was common in the early Seville school of art. Diego studied under him for more than a year and it’s often assumed it was from Herrera that Diego learned to use brushes with long bristles.
Diego left Herrera’s art studio at the age of 12, and then began an apprenticeship under Francisco Pacheco, who taught art in Seville. Despite Pacheco having a reputation for being dim witted and unrefined, his paintings possessed a sort of realism that not found in his own predecessor, Raphael. For a period of five years, Diego was tutored by Pacheco, mentored in methods used to portray proportion and perspective, and similarly studied and intermingled with literary and artistic elites in Seville.
In the 1620’s, Velazquez’s rise to prominence in Seville began to be noted. Diego married Juana Pacheco (1602-1660) on April 23, 1618, whom was the daughter of his mentor. With her they had two children. Velazquez enjoyed notoriety for his works throughout this period, by cultivating a style known as bodegones, or tavern scenes. The Three Musicians was painted by 1618 and portrays two men and a boy gathered around a dinner table, playing music. He used a Baroque technique called chiaroscuro that contrasts light and shadows to acquire the illusion of volume, and this painting is one of Velazquez’s oldest extant pieces.
The table lays upon it a still life scene, which consists of a loaf of bread on top of a napkin, a glass of wine and a piece of cheese with a knife shoved into it, and through the painting of this scene Velazquez was able to learn the technique needed to paint different textures.
We can see light shining from the left side of the painting, which makes for sudden shadows and fierce headlights. The two men are using a guitar and a violin and are seen to be singing, while the boy is holding his own instrument under his arm and holding up a glass of wine to pose and smile for the artist. His smile is impish, and meant to portray the enjoyment is being amplified by the wine that the men have drunk. To the left of the boy there is a monkey holding a pear, implying the disturbing nature of the scene, possible meant to define the situation as the musicians and their monkey business, as well as how the artist uses monkey mockery to portray the scene.
The duality of the scene is intriguing: There is an easily understandable portrayal of a theme, whilst also containing the possible existence of a mysterious undertone meant for us to decipher as we ponder the meaning of the painting.
