FRANCISCO

PACHECO (1571-1654)  , Spanish painter and art historian, was born at Seville in 1571 . Favourable specimens of his style are to be setn in the Madrid picture gallery, and also in two churches at Alcala de Guadaira near Seville . He attained great popularity, and about the beginning of the 17th century opened an academy of painting which was largely attended . Of his pupils by far the most distinguished was Velazquez, who afterwards became his son-in-law . From about 1625 he gave up painting and betook himself to literary society and pursuits; the most important of his works in this department is a treatise on the art of painting (Arte de la pintura: su antigiiedad y grandeza, 1649), which is of considerable value for the information it contains on matters relating to Spanish art . He died in 1654 .