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About the Artwork
Calabazas, a jester in the court of King Philip IV of Spain, had physical and mental disabilities, a state that the artist emphasizes, rather than tries to hide. While the Spanish court prized and doted upon people with disabilities such as Calabazas, Velázquez transformed their depiction in portraiture. This startling work uses the format of the formal, full-length court portrait to present a type of person who was generally perceived as marginal at this point in history and profoundly humanizes him.
Provenance
ca. 1631-32 - until at least 1808: Royal Collections (Palacio del Beun Retiro, Madrid) - possibly 1863: Private Collection (Great Britain) by 1867 - 1872: Jean-Gilbert-Victor Fialin, Duc de Persigny, 1808-1872 (Paris, France) (sold, Hotel Drouot, Paris, April 4,1872, as "Le Fou," for 750 francs by 1881: Maurice Cottier (died 1881), (Paris, France, and Château Cangé, Touraine. by 1906 - 1915: Sir George Donaldson (1845-1925) London, England, and Brighton, England, sold to Herbert Frederick Cook, 1915. 1915-1939: Herbert Frederick Cook, later 3rd Baronet, 1868-1939 (Richmond, England), by inheritance to Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 1939. 1939-: Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th Baronet, 1907-1978 since 1956 (sold, Christie's, London, March 19, 1965, lot 104, through Thomas Agnew & Sons (London, England) to the Cleveland Museum of Art. 1965-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965). Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984). Velazquez. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 3, 1989-January 7, 1990); Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain (January 29-March 30, 1990). Velázquez, His Third Journey to Italy. Palazzo Ruspoli, Rome (March 28-June 30, 2001). Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (February 25-June 29, 2003). The Palace of the Planet King. Philip IV and the Buen Retiro. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain (organizer) (July 5-November 27, 2005). Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Frick Collection, New York, NY (organizer) (November 8, 2006-January 28, 2007). Dalí and the Spanish Baroque. Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, FL (organizer) (February 2-June 24, 2007). Diego Velázquez: The Early Court Portraits. Meadows Museum, Dallas, TX (organizer) (September 16, 2012-January 13, 2013). Velázquez. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 75008 Paris, France (March 25-July 13, 2015).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)
- Date
- c. 1631–32
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 199.3 x 133.1 x 12.7 cm (78 7/16 x 52 3/8 x 5 in.); Unframed: 175 x 106 cm (68 7/8 x 41 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1965.15
More by Diego Velázquez in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009192
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