What a story! Juan de Pareja was a slave. He served as an assistant in #DiegoVelázquez’s workshop. #Velázquez painted Juan de Pareja’s portrait as an exercise in preparation of an official portrait of Pope Innocent X. #Velázquez explored the difficulty of executing a portrait in a short period of time (the Pope would not sit still for long). Juan de Pareja later became an artist in his own right and was freed by #Velázquez in 1654. This painting is on view at the @metmuseum in New York. #art #artist #painting #oiloncanvas #painter #artwork #arthistory #fineart #artoftheday #artpic #diegovelazquez #velazquez #slave #juandepareja #met #metropolitanmuseumofart #newyork #nyc

A post shared by Today Is Art Day (@todayisartday) on