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FRAMING INFORMATION
1st Art Gallery offers the option to receive your painting ready to hang or rolled in a tube.
Currently, the frames listed will be only ship up to a certain size. Once the maximum size is reached, the framing option is automatically disabled.
However, if you are interested in stretching or framing a painting larger than 24x36 inches (60x90 cm), please contact one of our customer success associates or let us know in your order notes. We will send you a catalog of our large framing styles and pricing options.
Unframed rolled canvas orders will arrive rolled inside a protective tube with an extra 1.5" white canvas on all sides so you can easily frame it locally.
The oil painting Juan de Pareja is one of the most important and celebrated works from Diego Rodríguez Velázquez. This masterpiece was painted in 1650, one of the last canvas painted by the legendary leading artist of King Philip IV's court, who died ten years later. Velázquez was a talented artist, one of the best painters in portraiture of all time, and was trusted by the King to travel through Europe to look for more paintings and buy it for Spain. Juan was the first Spanish man from African descent to be portrayed, and at the time was Velázquez's assistant.
When Velázquez was sent to Rome to buy works to be hung at the Alcazár in Madrid, he returned with Juan de Pareja, a Morisco slave, who became an assistant in his workshop. Preparing himself to work on the official portrait of Pope Innocent X, he decided to explore the difficulties that he would face to capture the Pope's image by portraying his assistant. The artist adopted loose brush strokes in the painting, bringing an intense vitality to his canvas.
Juan is painted with a serious expression, looking to the viewer with humble and serious eyes. His black hair is curly and drawn with broad brush strokes, and to enhance the contrast, Velázquez made the background lighter than he is used to portraying. The man, set free in 1654 by the artist, is drawn using fancy clothes and with a palette similar to the background. Above his jacket, there is white silk full of details covering part of the shoulder strap. His sleeve was painted in a darker tone, bringing contrast and a greater focus to the man's hand.
The first exhibition of this magnificent painting was in the Pantheon, in Rome, 1650. There is no record of ownership from this painting until the early XVIII century, in the Duke of Baranello collection, in Naples. He passed it along to Sir William Hamilton, British Ambassador, who sold it to the Radnor family in Salisbury, England. In November of 1970, the portrait of Juan de Pareja was sold for £2,310,000, the first painting that was sold for more than £1,000,000, establishing a record. Now, this wonderful work of art is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who said at the time that this was the most important acquisition in the Museum's history.
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Real Oil Paints, Real Brushes, Real Artists, Real Art. The Certificate of Authenticity which arrives with every painting provides an assurance and verifies the authenticity of the hand painted fine art reproduction you purchased. Each oil painting is created by hand using only the finest canvas and oil paints available.
Important Notes About Your Painting:
If you have any request to alter your reproduction of Juan de Pareja c. 1650, you must email us after placing your order and we'll have an artist contact you. If you have another image of Juan de Pareja c. 1650 that you would like the artist to work from, please include it as an attachment. Otherwise, we will reproduce the above image for you exactly as it is.
- Ordered without a frame, it will be delivered in protective tube within 21-28 business days.
- When ordering the painting framed - allow additional 5-7 days for delivery. The painting will arrive ready to hang.
- Every painting is painted by an experienced artist.
- No printing or digital imaging techniques are used.
- 100% hand painted oil painting on artist grade canvas.
- Painting comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
- 365 days Money Back Guarantee.
- Enjoy Free Express Shipping.
- Hand crafted means unique to every owner. Each canvas reproduction may vary slightly in brush details due to the nature of being hand painted, so no two paintings are the same.
- For those customers who appreciate quality and want to own an artist's work as it was meant to be enjoyed we are here for you.
Free shipping is included in the price of the painting. Once the painting is ready and dry enough to ship, we will roll it and ship it in a sturdy cardboard tube.
We always ship express via courier to ensure your order reaches you as soon as possible - normally within three business days. The total delivery time from the moment you place your order until the package is delivered to your door is normally between three to four weeks.
If, in the unlikely event you were dissatisfied with the painting after reviewing it in person, it can be returned for a full refund for up to 365 days after delivery.
When you receive the painting; you are free to return it for more revisions or else for a full refund minus our actual shipping cost -- which is, on average, $25 per painting.
1st Art Gallery provides a full warranty covering manufacturing and material defects for paintings purchased from our website. The warranty covers damage for normal use. Damage caused by incidents such as accidents or inappropriate use are not covered.
Depending on the degree of damage to the warranted painting, it will either be repaired or replaced. This warranty service is provided free of charge.
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Our paintings are 100% handmade by an experienced artist
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(unstreched canvas)
You may choose to purchase your painting framed, in which case, it will arrive "ready to hang". We offer more than 20 beautiful models, all hand finished and expertly assembled by our experienced framers.
Note that for safety reasons we can only frame up to a certain size. Once the maximum size is reached the framing option is automatically disabled.
If you are planning to frame your painting yourself, use an existing frame, or frame it locally, you may choose to order your painting with a stretching service, meaning that it will arrive mounted on wooden bars.
If you're considering not framing your painting at all, you may opt for a Gallery Wrap. The term Gallery Wrap refers to the way the canvas is stretched, which is by wrapping it around thick stretcher bars, about 1.5 inch thick, with the canvas being secured to the back rather than the sides of those bars.
All orders ship with UPS, FedEx or DHL and will arrive directly to your home or office. A tracking number will be emailed to you as soon as the order leaves our studio so you can track it online. All orders ship express and usually arrive within 4-5 days from the shipping date. Due to shipping restraints, many of our framed, stretched, and oversize paintings may take 6-21 days for arrival depending on the safest route determined by the postal service.
Unframed paintings are covered with a special protective film, are gently rolled and then placed inside a strong specially designed tube.
Stretched, Gallery Wrapped and Framed paintings are covered with protective bubble wrap, separated by foam board and then carefully put into the cardboard box.