Although Diego Velázquez was primarily a prestigious court painter for Spain’s King Philip IV during the Baroque period, he is most celebrated for breaking portraiture and scene painting out of its staid confines. His individualistic natural style favored authenticity over the idealized. This style lead to the development of Realism and differentiated Velázquez from his contemporaries who were bound to traditional methods of depicting their subjects. Vastly personable, and as equally interested in the common- and the lauded-man, Velázquez managed to create a fiercely individualistic body of work that belied his underlying passion for the human being and human experience. He remains one of the most important artists of the Spanish Golden Age, and is considered an Old Master. (The Art Story)