VELÁZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y
(b. 1599, Sevilla, d. 1660, Madrid)

A White Horse

1634-35
Oil on canvas, 310 x 245 cm
Palacio Real, Madrid

Seventeenth-century Spanish horses, bred from crosses with Arab stallions, were famous for their proud bearing and temperamental beauty. Velázquez had the opportunity of observing them daily in the royal stables or when the king put them through their paces.