Kitchen Scene

1618–20

In this kitchen scene, a type known as a bodegón (Spanish for pantry), Diego Velázquez depicted a young African woman at work, surrounded by exquisitely rendered pots and jugs and a crumpled paper wrapper for spices. Slavery was widespread in the young artist’s hometown of Seville—Velázquez, his father, and his teacher were all enslavers. Velázquez may have used an enslaved woman from one of these households as a model for this painting.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)

Date

1618–20

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

55.9 × 104.2 cm (21 7/8 × 41 1/8 in.); Framed: 74.9 × 125.1 × 7.3 cm (29 1/2 × 49 1/4 × 2 7/8 in.)

Origin

Spain

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Robert A. Waller Memorial Fund