Early Life, Family and Training in Seville Diego Velázquez was born in Seville, Spain, in 1599. He was the first child of Juan Rodríguez de Silva, a notary or lawyer, and Jerónima Velázquez. His arrival in the world was marked by his baptism at the Church of St. Peter in Seville on Sunday, 6 June 1599. The boy's path toward painting began early. At the age of eleven, he was apprenticed to Francisco Pacheco, a man who would become a s…