Las Meninas
Diego Velázquez. c. 1656 C.E. Spain. Oil on canvas
The painting represents a scene from daily life in the palace of Felipe IV. The points of light illuminate the characters and establish an order in the composition. The light that illuminates the room from the right hand side of the painting focuses the viewer´s look on the main group, and the open door at the back, with the person positioned against the light, is the vanishing point.
FORM:
-1656
-Oil on canvas
-125 1/4 x 108 5/8 in. (318 x 276 cm)
- Located currently in Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
-Used to be housed in the royal palace(Royal Alcazar of Madrid), the king’s study
-Extremely large painting, and inside the painting we can see a very large painting of the same size of the painting itself, being painted
-Uses very loose brushstrokes, but still comes together compositionally to create a clear, detailed, realistic image that also has a sense of life
-Utilizes scientific, but also aerial perspective
- Multiplication of the light sources
FUNCTION:
- Velazquez gives us informal glimpse, something we, as commoners could never see
-Made for the King and Queen to privately view
-at a most basic level it demonstrates the art of painting by showing an artist at work, trying to give idea that artists were intellectuals
-The characters stare beyond the frame, at us
-a self portrait that shows status, he is seen in the same room with the royals, holds a paintbrush because his ability to render these figures gives him his on power, this interp. fits with his obsession at the end of his life to become a gentleman, wanted to be a knight a the order of Santiago
CONTENT:
-Paintings of Ovid's The Metamorphisis that hang in the background, both stories of gods wrestling with mortals, very applicable to the themes of Las Meninas
-These paintings on the were done by Rubens who was his hero, and their choice in the painting is a reference to his own title of art installer
-Utilizes Illusions of space, depth and perspective
-Surface of his canvas is hidden to us, could be a portrait of the little princess, could be a portrait of the King and Queen, who are seen reflected in the mirror
-The people in the center are the princess, maids of honor,palace official, chaperone, dog, dwarf (often hired to keep children company), and other attendants
-The figures in the painting look at us in a very real way, the glances tell a story
-The painting is set in his studio
-he paints a pallet which is very mind-blowing because it is shown housing raw paint, the very stuff Velasquez actually created this work with
- He was inducted into the Catholic organization the Order of Santiago posthumously by the king, so in the painting, after he died the insignia of the group was painted onto his figure, it is even rumored that the king painted it on himself
-groups of two's all male/female pairs highlighting the princess, also use of groups of three on same horizontal plane
CONTEXT:
-To fight the unattractive qualities from the royal family’s inbreeding he compensated by painting them in elaborate clothes, demonstrating wealth and distracting from flaws
- Velazquez was the court artist, “the first painter to the king” he was responsible for art instillation in the palace, and he also was commissioned to do several portraits of the royal family
-Not a typical portrait, which demonstrated ethereal perfection, wealth, and command, this scene is more chaotic/informal, making commentary on the false nature of portraiture of royalty
-Combines genre scene with royal portrait
- Specific names of figures: King Philip IV of Spain, princess- the Infanta Margaret Theresa, attendants-María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor, doña Isabel de Velasco, dwarves- Maria Barbola and Nicolas Pertusato
RE-INVENTION:
-The image is a classic work of art that holds a bit of mystery in its purpose
-Many artists, such as Picasso, Dali, and Botero painted the scene re-imagines, or painted the princess
-It is important to recognize all of these artist were Latin in origin, and were culturally connected to Velázquez
Bodero
Dali
Sources:
http://images.mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/l54j4lkj.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/PabloPicasso_Meninas.jpg
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjf46iripDSAhWl34MKHdRkDdsQjBwIBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fuploads6.wikiart.org%2Fimages%2Fsalvador-dali%2Flas-meninas-the-maids-in-waiting-1977(1).jpg&bvm=bv.146786187,d.cGw&psig=AFQjCNFPgKYeTkNqwTS93LFPdWvjVcMjMg&ust=1487178647504447&cad=rjt
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/spain/v/vel-zquez-las-meninas-c-1656
https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/las-meninas/9fdc7800-9ade-48b0-ab8b-edee94ea877f
