Portrait of the Jester Calabazas
c. 1631–32
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
unframed: 175 × 106 cm · framed: 199.3 × 133.1 × 12.7 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
1965.15
Tags
About this artwork
Calabazas, a jester in the court of King Philip IV of Spain, had physical and mental disabilities, a state that the artist emphasizes, rather than tries to hide. While the Spanish court prized and doted upon people with disabilities such as Calabazas, Velázquez transformed their depiction in portraiture. This startling work uses the format of the formal, full-length court portrait to present a type of person who was generally perceived as marginal at this point in history and profoundly humanize...