Joseph's Bloody Coat Brought to Jacob, 1630 by Diego Velazquez

The court appointment of Velázquez gave him few opportunities for religious painting, and only occasionally did he execute subject pictures, except during his Italian journeys. He was little influenced by other artists, though he profited from the Titian's in the Spanish Royal Collection, and the visit of Rubens in 1628, which was his first contact with a great living painter, who was also a court painter. Whether or not it was Rubens who inspired him to visit Italy, it was due to Rubens's influence that he obtained permission to go. He left in August 1629, visited Genoa, Venice, Rome and Naples (where he met Ribera) and returned to Madrid in 1631. The Joseph's Bloody Coat Brought to Jacob shows his preoccupation with the male nude.