Philip IV

Diego Velázquez

Oil on canvas

Museo del Prado

This portrait depicts Philip IV of Spain, the Habsburg monarch who reigned from 1621 to 1665, rendered in the austere official style that Velázquez established for the Spanish court. The king is shown in his characteristic black costume with a plain linen collar known as the golilla, a reform introduced in 1623 to project an image of sobriety and royal dignity. Diego Velázquez, born in Seville in 1599, was appointed court painter to Philip IV in 1623 and went on to paint the king repeatedly over four decades, producing what became the definitive official image of the monarch circulated throughout the Spanish Empire. These portraits are central works of the Spanish Baroque and among the most celebrated royal likenesses in Western art history.