Explore the Court dwarfs about the Subject of this artwork.
Known as sabandijas, 'little serpents', court jester dwarfs were employed by kings as far back as the medieval period. Being either born with a deformity or deformed on purpose at the time of birth, court jesters became slaves to the royal court and family. Because they were seen as entertainment, dwarfs were no longer painted as symbolic figures and instead with a realistic style. Since dwarfs were so prominent in court life, they were also included in paintings with multiple figures. Previous Spanish court painters before Velázquez painted dwarfs with coldness and carelessness, since dwarfs were seen as human pets. Dwarfs were also painted with extreme stiffness and disdain for them was also visible in their portraits.Court dwarfs were portrayed in paintings as the property of their masters, being summoned back and forth at their master's request. Typically, dwarfs were painted as being obedient and as under the ownership of their masters by placing their hands on the dwarf's head. Dwarfs were seen as only one class higher than animals status-wise. Dwarfs were often painted holding an animal of some kind when with their masters. However, dwarfs with artistic or literature abilities were spared from having to train and play with animals.Art historian Enriqueta Harris stated that Velázquez's paintings of dwarfs did not belong in the same space as classical paintings that he had done as well. However, Catherine Closet-Crane, author of a critical essay about Velázquez's dwarf portraits, states that the portraits were in fact meant to be seen with other Velázquez portraits. She even discusses that the portraits could also be seen alongside some of Rubens's portraits, such as of philosophers Democritus and Heraclitus. Dwarfs were commonly painted from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, but their prominence in art declined afterwards.
Democritus court jester Heraclitus Rubens Court dwarf Enriqueta Harris jester court painter