as though we had lived there ourselves.

The painter was born in the south of Spain in the same year as Van Dyck, and seven years earlier than Rembrandt.

To paint the portrait of his sovereign was the ambition of the young artist.
When his years were but twenty-four the opportunity arrived, and Philip was so pleased with the picture that he took the young man into his household, and said that no one else should ever be allowed to paint his portrait.

Velasquez welcomed with gratified joy the prospect of that life-long proximity, although neither his earnings nor his station at all matched the service he rendered to his sovereign.

As the years went on he was paid a little better, but his days and hours were more and more taken up with duties at Court, and his salary was always in arrears.