[1] The statue was cast at Masriera & Campins' foundry in Barcelona,[1] using bronze gifted by the Spanish State.

[2] Modelled by Aniceto Marinas, the statue features a seated Velázquez, with his palette and brush at rest.

[4] A work by Vicente Lampérez [es] and funded by the Society of Architects,[1] the pedestal, standing 1.90 metre high, is a cube made of white stone from Monóvar.

The ceremony of inauguration was attended by the royal family (including the Queen Regent Maria Christina and the King Alfonso XIII),[1] the ministers of Public Works and the Navy, Santiago de Liniers [es], Francisco Romero Robledo, Repullés y Vargas, Benlliure and Ruiz Guerrero.

[6] Some of the speakers during the ceremony included French painters Carolus-Duran and Jean-Paul Laurens, and Edward Poynter, president of the British Royal Academy.