Portrait of Juan de Pareja

The Spanish Empire’s mid 1600s decline not only invited pirates and loggers into its prized dominions but also marked Spain’s downfall from the heights of fashion. As the monarchy’s stock fell, so too did black. The Thirty Years’ War, Spain’s economic woes and the rising financial might of Protestant merchant states rattled Hispanic Habsburg power. In the meantime, the colourful styles of the increasingly prominent French court became steadily more fashionable, not only among women but also men. The Spanish resisted this change well into the middle of the century and continued to don themselves – and their slaves – in black. For example, master painter Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez famously portrayed his slave Juan de Pareja in this style in 1650.