Quote by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

The novel centers on Juan de Pareja, born in Antequera, Spain, who was enslaved and became the property of Diego Velázquez, the leading painter of the Spanish Golden Age. The narrative follows Pareja's years in Velázquez's household and studio in Madrid, where he prepared pigments and canvases, and eventually learned to paint himself despite legal and social restrictions on enslaved persons creating art. The story addresses the complex relationship between the artist and his assistant, the racial dynamics of seventeenth-century Spain, and Pareja's eventual manumission. The book draws upon the known historical fact that Velázquez painted a celebrated portrait of Pareja, and that Pareja himself became a painter who exhibited works. The novel explores themes of artistic identity, dignity, and the pursuit of creative expression within the constraints of bondage. more