I’m going to be catching up a bit on some of the questions that have been asked in lecture on here. A few weeks ago, someone pointed out the strange folded paper that Velázquez painted in the bottom right of The Surrender of Breda, almost seeming to sit on the painting’s surface.

This was used by many artists as a way to sign a painting, but Velázquez has here left it blank. The Prado Museum, where the painting hangs, still views this as a sign of the artist’s style, claiming the work as his creation.

As with his equestrian portrait of Philip IV (P01178), the artist proudly declares his authorship and his stylistic singularity on a sheet of bank paper appearing in the composition’s lower right corner.

Prado