I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

이 책을 읽는 동안 이야기 자체도 정말 아름답고 강력했지만, 실존 인물들에 대한 정보를 찾는 재미 또한 컸다. 특히 벨라스케스라는 거장의 인생을 들여다볼 수 있었다는 것, 그의 인간 됨됨이를 알면 알수록 그림에 대한 감동이 더욱 커지는 것을 느꼈다.

과묵하고 진중한 화가는 내면 깊이 인간에 대한 존중, 약자에 대한 연민을 가지고 있었다. 벨라스케스는 평생 노예로 살수밖에 없었던 후안, 주인을 자신의 목숨만큼 소중하게 지켜주었던 충복에게 기꺼이 자유를 주었다.


20대 나이에 스페인 궁정 화가가 되었고, 이태리 여러 도시를 여행하면서 교황의 초상화까지 그리며 스페인뿐만 아니라 유럽 전역에서 인정받는 화가가 되었지만 벨라스케스는 언제나 겸손했다. 스페인왕 필리세 4세는 그런 화가를 진정한 친구로 받아들였다.


후안은 벨라스케스를 진정으로 사랑했고, 존경했다. 후안 드 파레하는 자신의 주인을 지켜보며 화가로서의 열망을 키워갔고, 끝내 인정받는 화가가 되었다. 후안 드 파레하의 작품은 스페인 내 여러 미술관에 전시되어 있다.

 (벨라스케스가 그린 후안 드 파레하 초상화)

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660)

Velazquez was born in Seville, Spain in 1599. When he was 12 years old, Velazquez began to serve as an apprentice under Francisco Pacheco, who was an artist and teacher in Seville. Velazquez remained in Pacheco’s school for five years. 1618, Velazquez married Juana Pacheco, the daughter of his teacher. They had two daughters, Francisca and Ignacia. In 1622, Velazquez became a court painter. Olivares, the powerful Minister of Philip IV commanded him to move to Madrid with his family. In 1628, Peter Paul Rubens came to Madrid as an emissary, who was then at the height of his powers. Rubens had a high opinion of Velazquez. Rubens encouraged him to visit Italy and to see the works of the great Italian masters.

Velazquez painted many portraits of Philip IV and of other members of the royal family, Philip’s first wife, Elisabeth of Bourbon, and her children, especially her eldest son, Don Baltasar Carlos. He also painted several buffoons and dwarfs living in the court. He depicted them as a wise and well educated man or with respect and sympathetically.

Velazquez was commissioned the portrait of Pope Innocent X, while he was traveling from Milan to Venice. Velazquez was welcomed by the Pope. The Pope’s portrait showed such ruthlessness in Innocent's expression that some in the Vatican feared that Velázquez would meet with the Pope's displeasure, but Innocent was well pleased with the work, hanging it in his official visitor's waiting room.

In 1650, Velazquez also painted a portrait of Juan de Pareja, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, USA. Velazquez did this work as a warm-up of his skill before his portrait of the Pope.

In 1644, the Queen Elizabeth had died, and the King had married Mariana of Austria, whom Velazquez painted in many attitudes. Margaret Theresa, the eldest daughter of the new Queen, appears in ‘Las Meninas’. This masterpiece was created four years before his death. It serves as an outstanding example of European baroque art.

In 1660, a peace treaty between France and Spain was consummated by the marriage of Maria Theresa with Louis XIV and the ceremony took place on the Island of Pheasants, a small swampy island in the Bidassoa. Velazquez was charged with the decoration of the Spanish pavilion and with the entire scenic display. After this ceremony, he was so sick with fever. Feeling his end approaching, he signed his will. He died on August, 1660.

Now, he is considered a father of the Spanish school of art. Velazquez is often cited as a key influence on the art of Eduard Manet, who was considered the bridge between realism and impressionism. Manet admired Velazquez, calling him ‘the painter of painters’. Pablo Picasso presented the most durable homages to Velázquez in 1957 when he recreated Las Meninas in 58 variations, in his characteristically cubist form. 

Las Meninas (1656)

궁녀들(1957년, 벨라스케스에 의한) By Pablo Picasso

[About the Author]

Elizabeth Borton de Treviño (1904 – 2001)

Elizabeth Borton de Treviño was born in California, USA. Her family were all enthusiastic readers. Her father, Fred was a lawyer, but before becoming a lawyer, he had published short stories and poems. Elizabeth always wanted to become an author. Her parents strongly encouraged her ambitions.

She attended Stanford University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American history in 1925. She moved to Massachusetts to study violin at the Boston conservatory, then worked as a reporter. Her knowledge of music led her to write music reviews and to become a reporter for the Boston Herald. Although she was finished with school, she soon learned her education was just beginning:

My life as a reporter carried me into places and situations I would never have known as an ordinary young woman merely passing time until the “right man” came along.  I visited prisons, I attended murder trials, I studied mental hospitals, I called on people in all sorts of trouble.

In 1935, she married Luis Treviño, a young Mexican man she had met on a business trip. After they married, the couple moved to Luis’s hometown of Monterrey, Mexico. After their two sons, Luis Federico and Enrique Ricardo were born, they moved to Mexico City. When the boys were old enough for school, the author took a job writing press releases and worked on her own writing as well.

I, Juan de Pareja won the Newbery Medal in 1966. It was inspired by her elder son Luis’s interest in art, particularly paining. Luis told her the story of the artist Velazquez and his slave Juan de Pareja. Velazquez instructed him in painting and later freed him. After seeing the original of Velazquez’ paining of Juan, she was inspired to write about their relationship. Her younger son, Enrique was the translator of the Spanish edition of the novel.

In her acceptance speech, she tells this story:

Before I had achieved any publication, my father took an office for me, equipped it with table, typewriter, and chair, and paid me a small salary. “Now,” he said, “you will write every day from nine to twelve and from one to five. Writing is work. You may have Saturdays off.” 

She never forgot this advice from her father, and published novels, memoirs, and many children’s books.

She later wrote several memoirs of her life as an American who had married into a traditional Mexican family: the best-seller My Heart Lies South and its sequels, Where the Heart Is and The Hearthstone of My Heart. Her last book, Leona: A Love Story, was published in 1994, when she was 90.

She died at 97 on December 2, 2001 in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

[Books]

1953 My heart lies south : The Story of my Mexican Marriage

1965 I, Juan de Pareja

1977 The Hearthstone of My Heart

1978 The heart possessed

1994 Leona, a love story

1996 Yo, Juan de Pareja(Spanish Version)