Philip IV of Spain (1605–1665)

Philip IV at Pollok House, dating from around 1658, is a late portrait showing the king in his final years. The melancholy that pervades Velazquez's late royal portraits reflects the genuine sadness of a reign marked by the loss of children, wife, minister, and military prestige. Velázquez's uncompromising naturalism and psychological penetration, combined with his revolutionary loose handling of paint in his late work, made him one of the most admired painters in history, his technique anticipating Impressionism and influencing Manet, Sargent, and countless others.

The extremely late date produces the most dissolved brushwork — forms are suggested rather than described, with the face emerging from atmospheric darkness through minimal but precisely calibrated marks. This is portraiture reduced to its absolute essence.