Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660)
Bodegón (Kitchen Scene)
1618–1620
Oil on canvas, 55.9 × 104.2 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
In this modest kitchen scene, a type known as a bodegón (from the Spanish for pantry), Diego Velázquez depicted a young African woman at work, surrounded by exquisitely rendered pots, jugs, a mortar and pestle, and a crumpled paper wrapper for spices. Slavery was widespread in the young artist’s hometown of Seville: Velázquez, his father, and his teacher, Francisco Pacheco, were all enslavers. In creating this painting, Velázquez may have used an enslaved woman from one of these households as a model. (AIC)