Juan de Pareja (1606–1670)

• Was a Spanish painter born in Antequera, near Málaga, Spain.
• He is known as a member of the household and workshop of painter Diego Velázquez, who enslaved him until 1650.
• Juan de Pareja was a Spaniard born into slavery in Southern Spain, probably in Antequera in Malaga province around 1610.
• It is unknown at what time he began serving Diego Velázquez. • In 1642 he signed as a witness in a power of attorney for Velázquez in a lawsuit against scribes in the criminal court.
• In 1649 he accompanied Velázquez on his second trip to Italy.
• On 23 November, while still in Rome, Velázquez granted him a letter of freedom.
• The document of his manumission, discovered by Jennifer Montagu, is held in the Archivio di Stato in Rome.
• From then on until his death in Madrid he worked as an independent painter.
• The displayed painting is a crop from: Diego Velázquez, Juan de Pareja, 1650.
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