YoJuan de Parejia Author:Elizabeth Borton de Trevino Spanish edition. When the great Velazquez was painting his masterpieces at the Spanish court in the seventeenth century, his colors were expertly mixed and his canvases carefully prepared by his Negro slave, Juan de Pareja. In a vibrant novel which depicts both the beauty and the cruelty of the time and place, the author tells the story of Juan,... more » who was born a slave and died an accomplished and respected artist.