A provocative study of a freedman painter that recognizes the labor of
enslaved artists and artisans in seventeenth-century Spain
Diego Velázquez's portrait of Juan de Pareja (ca. 1608-1670) has long
been a landmark of European art, but this provocative study focuses on
its subject: an enslaved man who went on to build his own successful
career as an artist. This catalogue--the first scholarly monograph on
Pareja-- discusses the painter's ties to the Madrid School of the 1660s
and revises our understanding of artistic production during Spain's
Golden Age, with a focus on enslaved artists and artisans. The authors
illuminate the highly skilled labor within Seville's multiracial
society; the role of Black saints and confraternities in the promotion
of Catholicism among enslaved populations; and early twentieth-century
scholar Arturo Schomburg's project to recover Pareja's legacy. The book
also includes the first illustrated and annotated list of known works
attributed to Pareja.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale
University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(April 3-July 16, 2023)