Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke Olivares
Artist / Origin: Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977).
Region: North America
Date: 2005
Period: 1900 CE – 2010 CE
Material: Oil on canvas
Medium: Painting
Dimensions: H: 108 in. (274 cm.), W: 108 in. (274 cm.)
Location: Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Kehinde Wiley Studio, New York. © Kehinde Wiley
Don Gaspar de Guzmán (1587–1645), Count-Duke of Olivares
Artist / Origin: Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)
Region: Europe
Date: ca. 1635
Period: 1400 CE – 1800 CE
Material: Oil on canvas
Medium: Painting
Dimensions: H: 50 ¼ in. (127.6), W: 41 in. (104.1 cm).
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund
Throughout history, portraits have often borrowed elements from earlier works of art. Sometimes this was the artist’s way of demonstrating his or her own skill. Often it was a way of imbuing the new image with some added meaning. For instance, if the heir to the throne was depicted in the same pose and with the same props as his or her predecessor, the portrait might act as a symbol of dynastic continuity. On the other hand, if an individual overthrew the sitting ruler and then appropriated elements of that ruler’s portrait, the message sent was quite different. In basing his painting on one by the seventeenth-century painter Velázquez, contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley makes his own unique statement.