"Juan de Pareja"

Diego Velazquez - Oil
Juan de Pareja is a oil painting by the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. It was painted in 1650. Juan de Pareja (1606-1670), a native of Antequera, near Malaga, Spain, is primarily known as a member of the household and workshop of painter Diego Velázquez. Velázquez painted the Juan de Pareja as an exercise in preparation for his official portrait of Pope Innocent X. The Juan de Pareja is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which purchased it in 1971. At the time, the purchase price of over $5.5 million set a new record for paintings at auction.