Room 19

Velázquez’s The Toilet of Venus, often called The Rokeby Venus, gives a reclining figure and a mirror much of the space. Elsewhere in the room, religious subjects call for a different kind of attention. Compare the softness of an outline with the sharp contrast between light and dark. Many Spanish painters of the 1600s worked for the monarchy or the Catholic Church. Their patrons’ wealth was connected to an empire in Europe, the Americas and the Philippines. Velázquez became painter to Philip IV in Madrid, while artists such as Zurbarán and Murillo worked extensively for religious institutions in Seville. Those different commissions helped shape the pictures made for them.