Accompanied by Pacheco, Velazquez went to Madrid and craved an audience of the King. The favour was denied, and after some months of waiting, the young artist returned to Seville. Next year he again sought the metropolis. One of the Canons of Seville Cathedral, Don Juan Fonseca, had obtained a post in the King's service; Velazquez painted his portrait. It was carried to the palace before it was dry, and in an hour the whole court had seen it. 'It excited the admiration of the capital,' writes Pacheco, exulting in the success of his favourite, 'and the envy of those of the profession, of which I can bear witness.' Velazquez's position was assured. He was formally received into the King's service, and became a member of the royal household. His genius was lost to Seville. He is classed among the artists of Castile, and to study his works it is necessary to visit, not Seville, but the Prado Museo, at Madrid. Of the pictures he painted in his youth none remain in Seville. The most famous are The Water Carrier, or Aguador, now in the collection of the Duke of Wellington, at Apsley House; The Omelet belonging to the late Sir Francis Cook; St. John in Patmos and The Woman and the Dragon, the property of Sir Bartle Frere; The Epiphany in the Prado Museo; and The Adoration of the Shepherds in the National Gallery. The Water Carrier and The Omelet are studies of street life, finished with great care; a class of picture known as _bodegones_, often painted by the Spanish artists. The former is the finer work. It is a magnificent instance of Velazquez's power during his student days. Either a study for this picture, executed by Velazquez himself, or a copy by one of his pupils, can be seen in the house of Murillo. The courteous owner, Señor Don López Cepero, is always willing to show his valuable collection of pictures. He believes the work to be a genuine Velazquez, and it is just possible that it may be so, and in any case it is a study of much interest. The Corsican water-seller, clad in his brown frock, a well-known figure in the streets of Seville, hands a glass of water to a boy, while in the distance another figure is dimly discerned, with his face buried in an earthenware mug. The background is very dark; the figures alone stand in the light. There is no scenery, and the accessories are painted with absolute truth. * * * * * While the art of Velazquez was unsuited to the city of his birth, the works of Murillo breathed the very spirit of the life around him. His pictures represent the religious emotion of his period; they may fittingly be termed, 'the embodied expression of Spanish Catholicism, during the seventeenth century.'