Portrait of Pope Innocent X

Portrait of Pope Innocent X is an oil on canvas portrait by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, executed during a trip to Italy around 1650. Many artists and art critics consider it the finest portrait ever created. The painting is noted for its realism, in that it is an unflinching portrait of a highly intelligent, shrewd, but aging man. He is dressed in linen vestments, and the quality of the work is evident in the rich reds of his upper clothing, headdress, and the hanging curtains. Velázquez included his signature on the paper the Pope is holding, but it is difficult to read the date.

As the story goes, Velázquez was already a renowned painter, and while visiting Vatican City he was granted an audience with Pope Innocent X. He offered to paint a portrait of the Pope, but Innocent X hesitated, mistrusting Velázquez's fame. He asked Veláquez to offer some proof of his painting skills, and Velázquez painted the portrait of his servant Juan de Pareja (today on display in the Metropolitan Museum of New York). Once the Pope saw the portrait of Juan de Pareja, he allowed Velázquez to paint this portrait.

The art dealer René Gimpel noted in his diary in 1923 that "[J.P.] Morgan would have offered a million dollars for it. Velázquez was faced with a ruddy Italian, and the artist, accustomed to the pale complexions of his country, unhesitatingly steeped his brush in red the color of wine and brought the bon vivant devastatingly to life.... That face is a whirlpool of flesh, and blood, and life; the eyes are searching."

- Clinton Pittman

P.S. Here you can read about the British royal portraiture.