棕银装束的腓力四世

Velázquez painted this soon after his first trip to Italy, in the early 1630s. Philip IV of Spain usually had himself shown in plain black, so the shimmer here is unusual, a brown suit shot through with silver thread, silver buttons, silver lace at the cloak. That splendour points to an occasion. In 1632 the king wore something very like it when the Cortes of Castile swore allegiance to his infant heir. Step close and the silver dissolves into loose daubs and squiggles. Step back and it snaps into shining metal, which is the trick Velázquez was chasing. There is one more thing to find. In the king's hand is a folded petition, and on it Velázquez signed his name as Painter to the King, a signature he added to only the few pictures he thought truly mattered. It hangs in the National Gallery in London.