Old Woman Frying Eggs, Velázquez
- Oil on linen canvas
- 100% hand-painted
- Reproduction painting
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| Author: | Diego Velázquez |
|---|---|
| Original Title: | Vieja friendo huevos |
| Type: | Painting |
| Style: | Baroque |
| Medium | Oil |
| Support: | Canvas |
| Year: | 1618 |
| Genre: | Costumbrism |
| Located: | National Gallery of Scotland |
In this canvas, one can already perceive the focused and theatrical light characteristic of Velázquez’s Sevillian period, influenced by Caravaggio’s tenebrism. The chiaroscuro directs the viewer’s gaze toward the hands and faces, while the objects in the foreground take on an unusual prominence.
The scene presents an intimate, almost silent composition, in which an elderly woman concentrates on the domestic task of frying eggs, while a young boy watches her attentively. This everyday subject, treated with almost monumental seriousness, reveals from an early stage the painter’s interest in the dignity of humble life and the psychological depth of his characters.
Old Woman Frying Eggs is one of Velázquez’s earliest masterpieces, painted during his youth in Seville and regarded as a benchmark of 17th-century Spanish costumbrismo.
The work dazzles with the extraordinary precision with which Velázquez captures a wide variety of materials and textures: the sheen of the boiling oil, the weight of the bronze mortar, the roughness of the fabrics and vegetables, the wear marks on the kitchen utensils, the dark wood, the metals, the ceramics, and the wicker. Each element appears carefully arranged, not as mere decoration, but as an exercise in observation and technical virtuosity.
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ARTIST DATA
Diego Velázquez
| Full Name: | Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez. |
|---|---|
| Birth: | 1599, Seville, Spain. |
| Death: | 1660, Madrid, Spain. |
Diego Velázquez (1599–1660), born in Seville, was one of the most outstanding artists of the Spanish Baroque and a central figure of the Golden Age. His work marked a turning point in the history of Western art through his mastery of light, perspective, and the realistic portrayal of the human being. Although he was recognized during his lifetime as the court painter to King Philip IV, his universal significance was solidified two centuries after his death, when his style began to influence modern masters such as Manet, Picasso, and Dalí.
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