Los tres músicos

Velazquez had not turned 18 when he made this, one of a handful of tavern scenes he painted in Seville before 1622. Three young men cluster around a table, two of them singing over stringed instruments while the youngest raises a glass of wine with a grin, as if pointing out what really keeps the music going. The light comes hard from the left and carves everything out of the surrounding dark, a young painter teaching himself to model faces and hands with shadow. Look into the background and there is a small monkey clutching a pear, a low, comic note that tips the whole scene toward the ridiculous.