r to
record their beauty.

Before Velazquez returned to Madrid from his second visit to Italy, he
seems to have painted the portrait of the dwarf known as "El Primo,"
now in the Prado. This man, known in private life as Don Louis de
Hacedo, accompanied Philip on a tour, and he seems to have been a
studious person, because the artist has depicted him with book, pen,
and paper, and given him a refined expression. The others have little
to redeem their ugliness and deformity. The child of Vallecas seems to
be the dwarf who figures with Don Balthasar Carlos in the first picture
that Velazquez painted of the unfortunate young prince, the one that is
now in America. He has grown a little older and a little more ugly in
the canvas that is devoted entirely to his portrait; he does not wear
good clothes, but a coarse green coat with stockings to match. The
Idiot of Coria is also dressed in green, though his garments are a
little richer, but Don Antonio seems to have been a person of some
importance. He is pictured in the Prado standing beside a beautiful
mastiff almost as big as himself, and he wears a ruddy brown dress
worked with gold. He carries a large plumed hat in his hand.
Sebastian de Morra, who sits facing the audience, has one of the most
wonderful heads ever set on canvas by the artist. This dwarf too is
dressed in the green costume that would seem to have been worn by the
dwarfs attached to the court of Spain. In addition to the little
company of dwarfs there were buffoons at the court, and of these
Velazquez painted Pablillos, who is known as "the comedian," and Don
Juan of Austria, whose portrait is a triumph of harmony in colour, the
pink of mantle and stockings contrasting admirably with black doublet
and cape.

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PLATE VI.--ADMIRAL ADRIANO PULIDO PAREJA

This picture may be seen in the National Gallery. It is signed and
dated 1639, and was purchased from the Longford Castle Collection in
1890. Senor Beruete holds a strong opinion that it was not painted by
Velazquez.

[Illustration: Plate VI.]

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In the last years the painter seems to have gone a little further down
in the social scale in search of his sitters, for the "AEsop" is a
beggar, and "Menippus" is no better. To all these sufferers and
outcasts Velazquez responded with a sympathy that is not less