Couple's portrait of Juan

Juan de Pareja, called El Esclavo (born 1610, Antequera, Spain; died 1670, Madrid), is a Spanish painter and student of Diego Velázquez. Pareja was initially Velázquez's slave and assisted the artist in his studio.

Pareja accompanied Velázquez on his second visit to Italy (1649–51), where Velázquez painted Pareja's portrait. The portrait was purchased at auction by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1970 for nearly $5.5 million, a record at the time. According to early writers, Pareja painted in the manner of Velázquez, but his only known portrait is a mere reflection of Velázquez's style. Other works, such as The Flight into Egypt (1658) and The Calling of Saint Matthew (1661), show a wide variety of styles. In 1650, while in Rome, Velázquez signed a legal document that granted Pareja his freedom four years later.

The painting by Velázquez's assistant, Juan de Pareja, represents a more personal part of the artist's work. Velázquez created the painting during a trip to Italy in preparation for his commissioned portrait of Pope Innocent X. Like Velázquez, the Moorish Couple was born in the Andalusia region of Spain. Pareja probably served as Velázquez's slave and was freed in 1654. However, some sources dispute Pareja's slave status, as he was registered as a painter, a profession prohibited to slaves, as early as 1630.

Juan indicates half his body, looking anxiously at the observer. Its neckline is so slim and padded that it looks like it was worn naturally over time. The folds and wrinkles in his coat are thick. In any case, it is the gap in Juan's sleeve that makes viewers speak of the truth in this painting.

Juan de Pareja was the artisan's enslaved colleague. Velázquez built an astonishing solidarity between the chromatic nuance of his palette and the unprecedented application and layering of paint in the work. Perhaps greater emotion is seen in this magnificent oil on canvas work due to her long professional history with Juan.

Diego Velázquez was the most respected European painter of all time. By many, it is considered the best. He had a talent for conveying a feeling of truth. He gave the best of his gifts to paintings that sensually reveal reality.