Juan de Pareja

Diego Velázquez painted Juan de Pareja in Rome in 1650. The oil on canvas measures 81.3 by 69.9 centimetres and shows a man to the waist, wearing a plain dark cloak and a wide white lace collar, angled slightly aside and gazing straight out against grey. The Metropolitan Museum of Art cites an early biography saying it was exhibited in Rome soon after completion. The museum states that Juan de Pareja, the sitter, was enslaved in Velázquez's household.

A number on the back probably points to the Baranello collection in Naples, and Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy there, owned the portrait by 1798. It was offered at Christie's in London in 1801 from Hamilton's estate and bought for 39 guineas. From 1811 until 1970 it belonged to the Earls of Radnor at Longford Castle, Salisbury.

On 27 November 1970 the 8th Earl of Radnor sold it at Christie's in London. Wildenstein & Co. bid, by arrangement with the Metropolitan Museum. The hammer price was £2,310,000 according to The Spectator, and $5,544,000 according to Time. Time reports it as the highest price then paid for a work of art at public auction. The museum acquired the portrait in 1971 and holds it under accession number 1971.86.