Focus on this artwork and explore the Influences.
Another proponent of this simple color range was Caravaggio, who significantly influenced this painting. Caravaggio went against the idealistic trends of Mannerism and the Renaissance, painting saints and divine beings as fallible cripples and prostitutes. Whilst not as aggressively provocative as Caravaggio, Velázquez does not by any means idealize his subject. Rather, he aims to represent it in a way that is precisely faithful to life. He captures the imperfections of the seller's pots, the dampness on their sides, the glistening of the light on the small drops of water and the glass, and the realistic expressions of the characters.Francisco Pacheco was not only Velázquez's teacher, but he was his father-in-law-too. Pacheco praised his son-in-law's bodegones paintings because they were not being given the credit that they should have been.
Antonio Palomino, Velázquez's contemporary, was the first author ever to mention the painting and he claimed that the old man looked worse than he really did. However, this was not the first time Palomino was inaccurate in his descriptions of a painting by Velázquez. Palomino had already given a very inaccurate of the painting An Old Woman Cooking Eggs.
Antonio Palomino Renaissance Caravaggio Old Woman Cooking Eggs bodegones Francisco Pacheco Mannerism