Velasquez, the son-in-law of Sevilla's famous painter Pacheco, sponsored by Felipe IV's servant Olivares, was able to enter Madrid's courts as a young man through his personal relations. He could act as a painter of the king. Later, his career in the courts of Madrid received more attention or jealousy from his contemporaries than his known paintings, and his efforts and achievements to become members of the Knights of Santiago were the result of this process. Behind this effort was the constant desire to conceal and overcome the inherent limitations of Velázquez himself. Apart from the success of the 17th-century court painter, this paper examines the obsession that Diego Velázquez has shown about his ancestry and status all the way to the Knights of Santiago.