Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas (1656).

From the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for the realist and impressionist painters, in particular Édouard Manet. Since that time, more modern artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, as well as the Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works.

-Wikipedia

*Other Episodes:
Bruegel
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Bruegel
Durer
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Albrecht-D-rer
Rubens
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Peter-Paul-Rubens
Vermeer
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Johannes-Vermeer
Titian
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-artists-Titian
El Greco
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-El-Greco
Raphael
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Raphael
Giotto
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Giotto
Rembrandt
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Rembrandt
Van Gogh
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Van-Gogh
Turner
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Turner
Michelangelo
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Michelangelo
Leonardo Da Vinci
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Artists-Leonardo-Da-Vinci