Elinor Wylie: Castilian

Velázquez took a pliant knife 
And scraped his palette clean; 
He said, “I lead a dog's own life 
Painting a king and queen.” 

He cleaned his palette with oily rags 
And oakum from Seville wharves; 
“I am sick of painting painted hags 
And bad ambiguous dwarves. 

“The sky is silver, the clouds are pearl, 
Their locks are looped with rain. 
I will not paint Maria's girl 
For all the money in Spain.” 

He washed his face in water cold, 
His hands in turpentine; 
He squeezed out colour like coins of gold 
And colour like drops of wine. 

Each colour lay like a little pool 
On the polished cedar wood; 
Clear and pale and ivory-cool 
Or dark as solitude. 

He burnt the rags in the fireplace 
And leaned from the window high; 
He said, “I like that gentleman's face 
Who wears his cap awry.” 

This is the gentleman, there he stands, 
Castilian, sombre-caped, 
With arrogant eyes, and narrow hands 
Miraculously shaped.

Public Domain

Elinor Morton Wylie (1885 – 1928) was an American poet and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s. She was famous during her life for her ethereal beauty and her scandalous love affairs.

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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599 – 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV, and one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age. He painted initially in a precise style, but later developed a free manner characterized by bold brushwork that produced an illusion of form only when viewed at a suitable distance. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners.