Diego rodríguez de Silva y velázquez (6 June 1599, Seville, Kingdom of Castile and Leon — 6 August 1660, Madrid, Spain) was a Spanish painter, the largest representative of the Madrid school of the Golden age of Spanish painting, and a court painter of king Philip IV. His students include Esteban Murillo and Juan de Pareja. The only statement of the artist that has been preserved is "I Prefer to be the best in the image of ugliness, and not the second in the image of beauty".
