Pope Innocent X (1574–1655)

Pope Innocent X at Apsley House, related to the Doria Pamphilj masterpiece, is one of the several versions and copies that document Velazquez's legendary encounter with the papacy. The Wellington collection's version demonstrates the wide interest this portrait generated among collectors. 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 papal crimson is handled with the tonal richness that makes the Innocent X portraits among the most chromatic works in Velazquez's oeuvre. The pope's shrewd, suspicious expression is captured with the same psychological penetration visible in the original.