Retrato del Conde-Duque de Olivares

The man in this portrait is the reason Velazquez had a career at court at all. Gaspar de Guzman, Count-Duke of Olivares, ran Spain for Philip IV, and in 1623 it was he who summoned the young painter up from Seville and made him the king's portraitist. So this is a servant painting his own protector. Around 1625 Velazquez shows him heavy, watchful and expensively dressed, the small gold key of the royal bedchamber tucked at his belt to mark how close he stood to the king. Velazquez would paint him again over the years, standing and on a rearing horse, always with that same golden key at the waist.