Why it matters
An old water seller hands a glass of water to a boy, but they never look at each other or at us. Velázquez painted it in Seville in his late teens or early twenties, and it is considered among the finest works of that period.
Did you know?
- It was painted between 1618 and 1622.
- It is a bodegón, a Spanish genre combining figures with still life.
- The boy may be the same model as in The Lunch and Old Woman Cooking Eggs.
- Velázquez painted three versions.
Based on the Wikipedia article The Waterseller of Seville (CC BY-SA 4.0).
