Ritratto di Juan Martínez Montañés

In 1635 the sculptor Juan Martinez Montanes, the most famous carver of religious statues in Seville, came up to Madrid on a royal commission: to model a clay bust of Philip IV so a Florentine sculptor could cast a great bronze of the king on horseback. While he was at court, Velazquez painted him at work. Montanes stands with a tool raised, shaping the king's likeness, and the man himself and the wall behind him are fully finished, while the bust under his hands is left as the barest sketch, a few pale strokes. The bronze it was made for still stands today, the equestrian Philip IV in the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid, cast by Pietro Tacca. Montanes was about 67 when he sat for it.