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.

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.

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.

He offered to paint a portrait of the pope, but Innocent X mistrusted Velázquez's fame, and asked for proof of Veláquez's skills.

It would have been then that Velázquez painted the portrait of his servant Juan de Pareja (today at display in the Metropolitan Museum of New York).