DALLAS (AP) — Research leading up to an exhibit focusing on artist Diego Velazquez has revealed a portrait by the Spanish master at Dallas' Meadows Museum is likely his first of Spain's King Philip IV, his lifelong patron.
An exhibit titled "Diego Velazquez: The Early Court Portraits" opens Sunday at the museum at Southern Methodist University.
The exhibit is part of a partnership between the Meadows and Madrid's famed Museo del Prado and will run through Jan. 13.
X-rays of the Meadow's portrait found brush strokes indicating he was still working out how to paint the king as he completed the piece.
Velazquez became the king's court painter in 1623, when he was only 24. It was a job he would hold until his death in 1660 at the age of 61.
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