Portrait of the Jester Calabazas, c.1631-1632 (oil on canvas)

Calabazas, a jester in the court of King Philip IV of Spain, had physical and mental disabilities, a state that the artist emphasizes, rather than tries to hide. While the Spanish court prized and doted upon deformed people such as Calabazas, Velázquez transformed their depiction in portraiture. This startling work uses the format of the formal, full-length court portrait to present a type of person generally perceived as marginal, and while the painting baldly holds the jester up as an oddity of nature, the work profoundly humanizes him at the same time.