Portrait of Francisco Lezcano

At the court of Philip IV of Spain there was a group of people kept for the amusement of the royal household, known politely as men of pleasure. Francisco Lezcano was one of them, a jester from the Basque country attached to the young prince, Baltasar Carlos. When Velázquez painted his fellow courtiers he gave them the same grave attention he gave kings. Here Lezcano sits on a rock in open country, a wide-brimmed hat tossed under one foot, and looks out with a loose, almost careless gaze. In his hands are what appear to be playing cards. Velázquez foreshortens the boy's leg toward us, which quietly makes his small stature plain without ever turning him into a spectacle.