Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660) was a 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. Born in Seville, Andalusia, Spain early on June 6, 1599, and baptized later on the same day, Velázquez was the son of Juan Rodríguez de Silva (born João Rodrigues da Silva), a lawyer whose parents, Diogo da Silva and wife Maria Rodrigues, were Portuguese Jews, and Jerónima Velázquez, a member of the hidalgo class, an order of minor aristocracy (it was a Spanish custom, in order to maintain a legacy of maternal inheritance, for the eldest male to adopt the name of his mother).

Recent archival investigations carried out by Mendez, Ingram and others not only reject his aristocratic origins, but have brought to light that he belonged to the Jewish converso lineage. He was educated by his parents to fear God and, intended for a learned profession, received good training in languages and philosophy. But he showed an early gift for art; consequently, he began to study under Francisco de Herrera, a vigorous painter who disregarded the Italian influence of the early Seville school.

Velázquez remained with him for one year. It was probably from Herrera that he learned to use brushes with long bristles.

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