Pareja, Juan de

▪ Spanish painter

byname  El Esclavo (Spanish: “The Slave”) 

born c. 1610, Sevilla, Spain

died 1670, Madrid

      Spanish painter and student of Diego Velázquez (Velázquez, Diego).

      A mulatto, Pareja was Velázquez's slave and accompanied him on his second visit to Italy (1649–51), where Velázquez painted his portrait. The portrait was purchased at auction by the Metropolitan Museum 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 crude reflection of Velázquez's style. While in Rome, Pareja was granted his freedom (1650) by Velázquez.

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