The Waterseller of Seville is the title of three paintings by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, dating from 1618-1622. It is widely said to be the greatest of all his Seville paintings.
The painting exists in three versions. The version in the Apsley House, London, United Kingdom, was originally housed in the Royal Spanish Collection but stolen by Joseph Bonaparte at the time of the Napoleonic wars. The Duke of Wellington later won it - and 82 othe...
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The Waterseller of Seville is the title of three paintings by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, dating from 1618-1622. It is widely said to be the greatest of all his Seville paintings.
The painting exists in three versions. The version in the Apsley House, London, United Kingdom, was originally housed in the Royal Spanish Collection but stolen by Joseph Bonaparte at the time of the Napoleonic wars. The Duke of Wellington later won it - and 82 other paintings - back at the Battle of Vittoria. The King of Spain allowed him to keep them in return for beating the French. Wellington brought the painting back to England where it remains to this day, in Apsley House, his former home.
The version in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, painted as many as two to four years earlier, has a rather more burlesque feel with the seller wearing an ornate red hat. This may be more in line with his contemporaries' expectations due to the comical and devious image of the waterseller given in picaresque novels...
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