Ruth Leon recommends…The Art of the Copyist – Met Museum

The Art of the Copyist – Met Museum

 In this short film, the American artist Jas Knight describes the reasons and techniques behind his background work as a copyist of a great portrait of Juan de Pareja by Diego Velazquez  in the Met Museum.

As his copy takes shape we can see, through the eyes of another accomplished artist, how the Spanish master Velazquez achieved his mastery. Velázquez probably painted this portrait of his enslaved assistant in Rome during the early months of 1650. According to one of the artist’s biographers, when this landmark of western portraiture was first put on display it “received such universal acclaim that in the opinion of all the painters of different nations everything else seemed like painting but this alone like truth.”

Months after depicting his sitter in such a proud and confident way, Velázquez signed a contract of manumission that would liberate him from bondage in 1654. From that point forward, Juan de Pareja  worked as an independent painter in Madrid, producing portraits and large-scale religious subjects.

Jas was born in Hartford CT. His talent for drawing was recognized at an early age. He sold his first painting at age seven and had his first one-man show at the age of eight. He went on to receive numerous awards and later went to study at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He currently lives and paints in Brooklyn, NYC.
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