Julián Gállego (1919–2006), an entertaining and perceptive writer, is the author of revealing studies on leading artists and themes in Spanish painting of the Golden Age and the nineteenth century. He is among the historians who have made the greatest and most original contributions to knowledge of Velázquez, through some thirty pieces published from 1960 in the daily press, specialist journals, exhibition catalogs, and monographs. His doctorate from the Sorbonne under the direction of Pierre Francastel gave rise to Visión y símbolos en la pintura española del Siglo de Oro (1968, Spanish ed. 1972), a study that revolutionized Spanish art history. He later earned a PhD in Spain with a study that resulted in El pintor, de artesano a artista (1976). He has published two important monographs, Velázquez en Sevilla (1974) and Diego Velázquez (1983), and the catalogs of the exhibitions devoted to the artist at the Metropolitan Museum (1989) and the Museo del Prado (1990).