Miguel Angelo, Barber to the Pope 1650

Diego Velázquez painted this oil on canvas portrait of Miguel Angelo, Barber to the Pope, in seventeenth-century Spain. The sitter’s profession tells us much about the social and institutional context for art at this time. The Catholic church was a central political and cultural institution, with the Pope wielding enormous power. Velázquez was one of many artists who made their careers by working for the church. He was not alone. The church and its dignitaries were important patrons and subjects for art. The image creates meaning through the visual codes of portraiture: a man is shown from the chest upwards, presented in a good light and seemingly pleasant and affable. The sitter's clean, white collar and neat moustache suggest his proximity to wealth and power. To understand this work better, we might look at the role of the barber in seventeenth-century Rome, the politics of the papacy at the time, and the ways in which artists like Velazquez negotiated the demands of their patrons.