Don Sebastián de Morra

Sebastián de Morra was a dwarf and jester in the court of Philip IV of Spain. Velázquez portrays de Morra’s whole body, sitting on the ground, wearing a rich cloak and with his short legs pointing forward in an inelegant position reminiscent of a marionette. He looks directly at the viewer, motionless, making no hand gestures, suggesting a denunciation of the court's treatment of him and of other dwarfs. While Velázquez's naturalistic and charitable depictions of the invalids and dwarfs maintained by the court strongly suggests he, as court painter, felt some empathy with their situation, the painter's opinions have not been discovered in any documented fashion.