Where can you see Diego Velázquez in Rome?

At the Galleria Doria Pamphilj: Portrait of Innocent X. At the Capitoline Museums: Portrait of a Man. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Diego Velázquez's most famous work in Rome?

Portrait of Innocent X, of 1650, at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj. The pope in red on a red chair against a red curtain, watching you with small suspicious eyes. It has a small room to itself in the palace of his descendants, with a marble bust of the same man by Bernini beside it.

When and where was Diego Velázquez born?

In June 1599, at Seville, Spain. Diego Velázquez died on 6 August 1660, at Madrid, Spain, aged about 61.

What is Diego Velázquez known for?

Painter to King Philip IV of Spain. Painted Las Meninas. Painted Pope Innocent X in Rome in 1650. Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter, of the Baroque.

Painter, 1599 to 1660

Diego Velázquez

When the pope saw the portrait Velázquez had made of him, he is said to have called it too truthful. It has hung in his family's gallery ever since.

The Portrait of Innocent X by Velázquez: the pope seated in red cap and cape, looking sharply out. — Diego Velázquez, Public domain

A self-portrait of Velázquez, with dark hair and an upturned moustache. — Diego Velázquez, Public domain

Born: 1599, Seville, Spain
Died: 1660, Madrid, Spain
Movement: Baroque
In Rome: 2 works in 2 museums

Where to see Diego Velázquez in Rome

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Galleria Doria Pamphilj1 work

Portrait of Innocent X
1650
The pope in red on a red chair against a red curtain, watching you with small suspicious eyes. It has a small room to itself in the palace of his descendants, with a marble bust of the same man by Bernini beside it.

Capitoline Museums1 work

Portrait of a Man
about 1630
A head and shoulders in black, painted on his first visit to Italy and thought by some to be a self-portrait.

The life of Diego Velázquez

Velázquez was born in Seville in 1599 and at twenty-four became painter to King Philip IV of Spain, whom he served for the rest of his life. Las Meninas, painted in 1656, is in the Prado.

He travelled to Italy twice, in 1629 and again from 1649 to 1651, to buy pictures and antiquities for the king. On the second journey he painted Pope Innocent X in Rome. He died in Madrid in 1660.

What to know

Painter to King Philip IV of Spain
Painted Las Meninas
Painted Pope Innocent X in Rome in 1650

Born: June 1599, Seville, Spain
Died: 6 August 1660, Madrid, Spain