Painted by Diego Velázquez in Seville between about 1618 and 1622, when he was still a teenager, 'The Waterseller of Seville' is one of the young master's finest 'bodegón' (kitchen-scene) paintings. In an undefined dark interior, an old water-seller hands a glass of clear water — a fig visible at the bottom — to a young boy, while the rough earthenware jar in the foreground glistens with condensation. The picture was captured by the British army after the Battle of Vitoria in 1813 and presented to the Duke of Wellington; it has hung ever since at Apsley House, his London residence, now the Wellington Museum.

Exhibition Venue

Apsley House

City of Westminster, United Kingdom