#5995_”Pope Innocent X,” after Velázquez

This one-of-a-kind unframed original pencil and ink drawing was created by New Orleans artist Emilie Rhys, from a photograph of the painting, on May 5, 2016 at the Hotel Elysee in New York City. The artist, while visiting NYC on vacation, often sat in the hotel library and chose a book with photographs of art or historic photographs from which to draw.

Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal. In this drawing, Rhys created a copy of his oil on canvas portrait masterpiece "Pope Innocent X," created by Velázquez in Italy, circa 1650.

There is a long history of artists turning for inspiration to the work of their predecessors, creating copies or interpretations of well-known masterworks.