e style of
Velasquez, but in the picture of _The Topers_, which must have been
painted while Rubens was at Madrid, or very shortly after he left, we
can almost see a determination not to be influenced by him; for the
subject was a favourite one of Rubens's, and yet there is nothing in
this most realistic presentment of

[Illustration: PLATE XVIII.--VELAZQUEZ

THE INFANTE PHILIP PROSPER

_Imperial Gallery, Vienna_]

actual figures under the title of Bacchus and his votaries which has
anything at all in common with the florid and imaginative compositions
of the Flemish painter. Velasquez had begun as a realist, and a realist
he was to continue till the end of his days.

Shortly after painting this picture he left his native country for the
first time, and visited Venice and Rome. At Venice he made copies of
Tintoretto's _Last Supper_ and _Crucifixion_; but little if any of
Tintoretto's influence is to be seen in the two pictures he painted in
Rome--_The Forge of Vulcan_ and _Joseph's Coat_, both of which are still
as realistic as ever in treatment, though showing great advances in
technical skill. Soon after his return to Spain in 1631, he probably
painted the magnificent whole length _Philip IV._ in the National
Gallery, which compares so well, on examination with the more popular
and showy _Admiral Pulido Pareja_ purchased some years ago from Longford
Castle. Senor Beruete, who has studied the work of Velasquez more
closely and more intelligently than any one else, considers that whereas
there is not a single touch upon the former that is not from the brush
of Velasquez, the latter cannot be properly attributed to him at
all--any more than can another popular favourite, the _Alexandro del
Borro_ in the Berlin Gallery, now given to Bernard Strozzi.

To this period may be also assigned the _Christ at the Column_ in the
National Gallery, a picture which though not at first sight attractive,
is nevertheless as fine in technique, and in sentiment, as any other
picture in the Spanish room, and deserves far more attention than is
usually given to it. Its simple realism and its pathetic sweetness are
qualities which are wanting in many a more showy or sensational
composition, and the more it is studied the nearer we find we are
getting to the real excellences that distinguish Velasquez from any
painter who has ever lived. The _Crucifixion_ at the Prado is perhaps
more wonderful, but the familiar subject helps the imagina