Portrait of Innocent X

Portrait of Innocent X
Spanish: Retrato de Inocencio X
Artist	Diego Velázquez
Year	c. 1650
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	141 cm × 119 cm (56 in × 47 in)
Location	Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

Portrait of Pope Innocent X is an oil on canvas portrait by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, created during a trip to Italy around 1650. Many artists and art critics consider it the finest portrait ever created.^[1] It is housed in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome. A smaller version is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and a study is on display at Apsley House in London.^[2] The painting is noted for its realism as an unflinching portrait of a highly intelligent, shrewd, and aging man. He is dressed in linen vestments, and the quality of the work is evident in the rich reds of his upper clothing, head-dress, and the hanging curtains.

The pope, born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, was initially wary of sitting for Velázquez, but relented after he was shown reproductions of portraits by the artist. A contributing factor for this large advancement in the painter's career was that he had already depicted a number of members of Pamphilj's inner court. The pope, however, remained cautious, and the painting was initially displayed only to his immediate family, and was largely lost from public view through the 17th and 18th centuries.