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Las Meninas

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For other uses, seeLas Meninas (disambiguation).

Las Meninas
ArtistDiego Velázquez
Year1656
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions318 cm × 276 cm (125.2 in × 108.7 in)
LocationMuseo del Prado,Madrid

Las Meninas(Spanishfor 'The Ladies-in-waiting'[a]pronounced[lasmeˈninas]) is a 1656 painting in theMuseo del PradoinMadrid,byDiego Velázquez,the leading artist of theSpanish Baroque.It has become one of the most widely analyzed works inWestern paintingfor the way its complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and for the uncertain relationship it creates between the viewer and the figures depicted.

The painting is believed byF. J. Sánchez Cantónto depict a room in theRoyal Alcazar of Madridduring the reign of KingPhilip IV of Spain,and presents several figures, most identifiable from the Spanish court, captured in a particular moment as if in asnapshot.[b][2]Some of the figures look out of the canvas towards the viewer, while others interact among themselves. The five-year-oldInfanta Margaret Theresais surrounded by her entourage ofmaids of honour,chaperone,bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog. Just behind them, Velázquez portrays himself working at a large canvas. Velázquez looks outwards beyond the pictorial space to where a viewer of the painting would stand.[3]In the background there is a mirror that reflects the upper bodies of the king and queen. They appear to be placed outside the picture space in a position similar to that of the viewer, although some scholars have speculated that their image is a reflection from the painting Velázquez is shown working on.

Las Meninashas long been recognised as one of the most important paintings in the history ofWestern art.TheBaroquepainterLuca Giordanosaid that it represents the "theology of painting", and in 1827 the president of theRoyal Academy of ArtsSir Thomas Lawrencedescribed the work in a letter to his successorDavid Wilkieas "the true philosophy of the art".[4]More recently, it has been described as "Velázquez's supreme achievement, a highly self-conscious, calculated demonstration of what painting could achieve, and perhaps the most searching comment ever made on the possibilities of the easel painting".[5]

Background

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Court of Philip IV

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TheInfanta Margaret Theresa(1651–1673), in mourning dress for her father in 1666, bydel Mazo.The background figures include her young brotherCharles IIand the dwarf Maribarbola, also inLas Meninas.She left Spain for her marriage in Vienna the same year.[6]

In 17th-century Spain, painters rarely enjoyed high social status. Painting was regarded as a craft, not an art such as poetry or music.[7]Nonetheless, Velázquez worked his way up through the ranks of the court ofPhilip IV,and in February 1651 was appointedpalace chamberlain(aposentador mayor del palacio). The post brought him status and material reward, but its duties made heavy demands on his time. During the remaining eight years of his life, he painted only a few works, mostly portraits of the royal family.[8]When he paintedLas Meninas,he had been with the royal household for 33 years.

Philip IV's first wife,Elizabeth of France,died in 1644, and their only son,Balthasar Charles,died two years later. Lacking an heir, Philip marriedMariana of Austriain 1649,[c]and Margaret Theresa (1651–1673) was their first child, and their only one at the time of the painting. Subsequently, she had a short-lived brotherPhilip Prospero(1657–1661), and thenCharles(1661–1700) arrived, who succeeded to the throne as Charles II at the age of three. Velázquez painted portraits of Mariana and her children,[8]and although Philip himself resisted being portrayed in his old age he did allow Velázquez to include him inLas Meninas.In the early 1650s he gave Velázquez the Pieza Principal (main room) of the late Balthasar Charles's living quarters, by then serving as the palace museum, to use as his studio, whereLas Meninasis set. Philip had his own chair in the studio and would often sit and watch Velázquez at work. Although constrained by rigid etiquette, the art-loving king seems to have had a close relationship with the painter. After Velázquez's death, Philip wrote "I am crushed"in the marginof a memorandum on the choice of his successor.[9][10]

During the 1640s and 1650s, Velázquez served as both court painter andcuratorof Philip IV's expanding collection of European art. He seems to have been given an unusual degree of freedom in the role. He supervised the decoration and interior design of the rooms holding the most valued paintings, adding mirrors, statues and tapestries. He was also responsible for the sourcing, attribution, hanging and inventory of many of the Spanish king's paintings. By the early 1650s, Velázquez was widely respected in Spain as a connoisseur. Much of the collection of the Prado today—including works byTitian,Raphael,andRubens—were acquired and assembled under Velázquez's curatorship.[11]

Provenance and condition

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Detail showing Philip IV's daughter, theInfanta Margaret Theresa.Most of her left cheek was repainted after being damaged inthe fire of 1734.

The painting was referred to in the earliest inventories asLa Familia( "The Family" ).[12]Las Meninasis described in the inventory of 1666 byGarcía de Medrano.[13]A detailed description ofLas Meninas,which provides the identification of several of the figures, was published byAntonio Palomino( "theGiorgio Vasariof the Spanish Golden Age ") in 1724.[3][14]Examination underinfraredlight reveals minorpentimenti,that is, there are traces of earlier working that the artist himself later altered. For example, at first Velázquez's own head inclined to his right rather than his left.[15]

The painting has been cut down on both the left and right sides.[d]It was damaged in the1734 fire that destroyed the Alcázar,and was restored by court painterJuan García de Miranda(1677–1749). The left cheek of the Infanta was almost completely repainted to compensate for a substantial loss of pigment.[e]After its rescue from the fire, the painting was inventoried as part of the royal collection in 1747–48, and the Infanta was misidentified asMaria Theresa,Margaret Theresa's older half-sister, an error that was repeated when the painting was inventoried at the new Madrid Royal Palace in 1772.[18]A 1794 inventory reverted to a version of the earlier title,The Family of Philip IV,which was repeated in the records of 1814. The painting entered the collection of the Museo del Prado on its foundation in 1819.[e]In 1843, the Prado catalogue listed the work for the first time asLas Meninas.[18]

In recent years, the picture has suffered a loss of texture and hue. Due to exposure to pollution and crowds of visitors, the once-vivid contrasts between blue and white pigments in the costumes of themeninashave faded.[e]It was last cleaned in 1984 under the supervision of the American conservatorJohn Brealey,to remove a "yellow veil" of dust that had gathered since the previous restoration in the 19th century. The cleaning provoked, according to the art historianFederico Zeri,"furious protests, not because the picture had been damaged in any way, but because it looked different".[19][20]In addition, "[t]he Spanish press criticized Brealey at every opportunity, arguing that only someone born and raised in Spain could truly comprehend, and be allowed to handle, such an iconic piece of their culture. One day, a small riot broke out outside the room where Brealey was working".[21]However, in the opinion of López-Rey, the "restoration was impeccable".[18]Due to its size, importance, and value, the painting is not lent out for exhibition.[f]

Painting materials

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A thorough technical investigation including a pigment analysis ofLas Meninaswas conducted around 1981 in the Museo del Prado.[23]The analysis revealed the usual pigments of the Baroque period frequently used by Velázquez in his other paintings. The main pigments used for this painting werelead white,azurite(for the skirt of the kneelingmenina),vermilionandred lake,ochresandcarbon blacks.[24]

Description

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Subject

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Key to the people represented: see text

Las Meninasis set in Velázquez's studio in Philip IV'salcázarpalace inMadrid.[25]The high-ceilinged room is presented, in the words of Silvio Gaggi, as "a simple box that could be divided into a perspective grid with a singlevanishing point".[26]In the centre of the foreground stands theInfanta Margaret Theresa(1). The five-year-old infanta, who later marriedHoly Roman Emperor Leopold I,was at this point Philip and Mariana's only surviving child.[g]She is attended by twoladies-in-waiting,ormeninas:DoñaIsabel de Velasco[Wikidata](2), who is poised to curtsy to the princess, and DoñaMaría Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor[es](3), who kneels before Margaret Theresa, offering her a drink from a red cup, orbúcaro,that she holds on a golden tray.[27]To the right of the Infanta are two dwarfs: theachondroplasticAustrianMari Bárbola(4),[27]and the ItalianNicolás Pertusato[es](5), who playfully tries to rouse a sleepymastiffwith his foot. The dog is thought to be descended from two mastiffs fromLyme HallinCheshire,given toPhilip IIIin 1604 byJames I of England.[h]DoñaMarcela de Ulloa[es](6), the princess's chaperone, stands behind them, dressed in mourning and talking to an unidentified bodyguard (orguardadamas) (7).[27]

Detail showing DonJosé Nieto Velázquezat the door in the background of the painting

To the rear and at right stands DonJosé Nieto Velázquez(8)—the queen's chamberlain during the 1650s, and head of the royaltapestryworks—who may have been a relative of the artist. Nieto is shown standing but in pause, with his right knee bent and his feet on different steps. As the art critic Harriet Stone observes, it is uncertain whether he is "coming or going".[29]He is rendered in silhouette and appears to hold open a curtain on a short flight of stairs, with an unclear wall or space behind. Both this backlight and the open doorway reveal space behind: in the words of the art historianAnalisa Leppanen,they lure "our eyes inescapably into the depths".[30]The royal couple's reflection pushes in the opposite direction, forward into the picture space. Thevanishing pointof theperspectiveis in the doorway, as can be shown by extending the line of the meeting of wall and ceiling on the right. Nieto is seen only by the king and queen, who share the viewer's point of view, and not by the figures in the foreground. In the footnotes of Joel Snyder's article, the author recognizes that Nieto is the queen's attendant and was required to be at hand to open and close doors for her. Snyder suggests that Nieto appears in the doorway so that the king and queen might depart. In the context of the painting, Snyder argues that the scene is the end of the royal couple's sitting for Velázquez and they are preparing to exit, explaining that is "why themeninato the right of the Infanta begins to curtsy ".[31]

Velázquez himself (9) is pictured to the left of the scene, looking outward past a large canvas supported by aneasel.[32]On his chest is the red cross of theOrder of Santiago,which he did not receive until 1659, three years after the painting was completed. According to Palomino, Philip ordered this to be added after Velázquez's death, "and some say that his Majesty himself painted it".[33]From the painter's belt hang the symbolic keys of his court offices.[34]

A mirror on the back wall reflects the upper bodies and heads of two figures identified from other paintings, and by Palomino, as King Philip IV (10) and Queen Mariana (11). The most common assumption is that the reflection shows the couple in the pose they are holding for Velázquez as he paints them, while their daughter watches; and that the painting therefore shows their view of the scene.[35]

Detail of the mirror hung on the back wall, showing the reflected images ofPhilip IVand his wife,Mariana of Austria

Of the nine figures depicted, five are looking directly out at the royal couple or the viewer. Their glances, along with the king and queen's reflection, affirm the royal couple's presence outside the painted space.[29]Alternatively, art historiansH. W. Jansonand Joel Snyder suggest that the image of the king and queen is a reflection from Velázquez's canvas, the front of which is obscured from the viewer.[36][37]Other writers say the canvas Velázquez is shown working on is unusually large for one of his portraits, and note that is about the same size asLas Meninas.The painting contains the only known double portrait of the royal couple painted by the artist.[38]

The point of view of the picture is approximately that of the royal couple, though this has been widely debated. Many critics suppose that the scene is viewed by the king and queen as they pose for a double portrait, while the Infanta and her companions are present only to make the process more enjoyable.[39]Ernst Gombrichsuggested that the picture might have been the sitters' idea:

Perhaps the princess was brought into the royal presence to relieve the boredom of the sitting and the King or the Queen remarked to Velazquez that here was a worthy subject for his brush. The words spoken by the sovereign are always treated as a command and so we may owe this masterpiece to a passing wish which only Velazquez was able to turn into reality.[40]

No single theory, however, has found universal agreement.[41]Leo Steinbergsuggests that the King and Queen are to the left of the viewer and the reflection in the mirror is that of the canvas, a portrait of the king and queen.[42]

Clark suggests that the work comprises a scene where the ladies-in-waiting are attempting to cajole the Infanta Doña Margarita to pose with her mother and father. In his 1960 book "Looking at Pictures",Clark writes:

Our first feeling is of being there. We are standing just to the right of the King and Queen, whose reflections we can see in the distant mirror, looking down an austere room in the Alcázar (hung withdel Mazo's copies ofRubens) and watching a familiar situation. The Infanta Doña Margarita doesn't want to pose...She is now five years old, and she has had enough. [It is] an enormous picture, so big that it stands on the floor, in which she is going to appear with her parents; and somehow the Infanta must be persuaded. Her ladies-in-waiting, known by the Portuguese name ofmeninas... are doing their best to cajole her, and have brought her dwarfs, Maribarbola and Nicolasito, to amuse her. But in fact they alarm her almost as much as they alarm us.[43]

The back wall of the room, which is in shadow, is hung with rows of paintings, including one of a series of scenes fromOvid'sMetamorphosesby Rubens, and copies, by Velázquez's son-in-law and principal assistant del Mazo, of works byJacob Jordaens.[25]The paintings are shown in the exact positions recorded in aninventorytaken around this time.[32]The wall to the right is hung with a grid of eight smaller paintings, visible mainly as frames owing to their angle from the viewer.[29]They can be identified from the inventory as more Mazo copies of paintings from the Rubens Ovid series, though only two of the subjects can be seen.[25]

The paintings on the back wall are recognized as representingMinerva Punishing ArachneandApollo's Victory Over Marsyas.Both stories involveMinerva,the goddess of wisdom and patron of the arts. These two legends are both stories of mortals challenging gods and the dreadful consequences. One scholar points out that the legend dealing with two women, Minerva andArachne,is on the same side of the mirror as the queen's reflection while the male legend, involving the godApolloand thesatyrMarsyas,is on the side of the king.[44]

Composition

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The painted surface is divided into quarters horizontally and sevenths vertically; this grid is used to organise the elaborate grouping of characters, and was a common device at the time.[45]Velázquez presents nine figures—eleven if the king and queen's reflected images are included—yet they occupy only the lower half of the canvas.[46]

According to López-Rey, the painting has three focal points: the Infanta Margaret Theresa, the self-portrait and the half-length reflected images of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana. In 1960, Clark observed that the success of the composition is a result first and foremost of the accurate handling of light and shade:

Each focal point involves us in a new set of relations; and to paint a complex group like the Meninas, the painter must carry in his head a single consistent scale of relations which he can apply throughout. He may use all kinds of devices to help him do this—perspective is one of them—but ultimately the truth about a complete visual impression depends on one thing, truth of tone. Drawing may be summary, colours drab, but if the relations of tone are true, the picture will hold.[45]

However, the focal point of the painting is widely debated. Leo Steinberg argues that the orthogonals in the work are intentionally disguised so that the picture's focal center shifts. Similar to Lopez-Rey, he describes three foci. The man in the doorway, however, is the vanishing point. More specifically, the crook of his arm is where the orthogonals of the windows and lights of the ceiling meet.[47]

Depth and dimension are rendered by the use of linear perspective, by the overlapping of the layers of shapes, and in particular, as stated by Clark, through the use of tone. This compositional element operates within the picture in a number of ways. First, there is the appearance of natural light within the painted room and beyond it. The pictorial space in the midground and foreground is lit from two sources: by thin shafts of light from the open door, and by broad streams coming through the window to the right.[32]The 20th-centuryFrench philosopherand cultural criticMichel Foucaultobserved that the light from the window illuminates both the studio foreground and the unrepresented area in front of it, in which the king, the queen, and the viewer are presumed to be situated.[48]ForJosé Ortega y Gasset,light divides the scene into three distinct parts, with foreground and background planes strongly illuminated, between which a darkened intermediate space includes silhouetted figures.[49]

Velázquez uses this light not only to add volume and definition to each form but also to define the focal points of the painting. As the light streams in from the right it brightly glints on the braid and golden hair of the female dwarf, who is nearest the light source. But because her face is turned from the light, and in shadow, its tonality does not make it a point of particular interest. Similarly, the light glances obliquely on the cheek of the lady-in-waiting near her, but not on her facial features. Much of her lightly coloured dress is dimmed by shadow. The Infanta, however, stands in full illumination, and with her face turned towards the light source, even though her gaze is not. Her face is framed by the pale gossamer of her hair, setting her apart from everything else in the picture. The light models the volumetric geometry of her form, defining the conic nature of a small torso bound rigidly into a corset and stiffened bodice, and the panniered skirt extending around her like an oval candy-box, casting its own deep shadow which, by its sharp contrast with the bright brocade, both emphasises and locates the small figure as the main point of attention.[50]

Detail of DoñaMaría de Sotomayor,showing Velázquez's free brushwork on her dress

Velázquez further emphasises the Infanta by his positioning and lighting of her maids of honour, who are set opposite one another: before and behind the Infanta. The maid on the viewer's left is given a brightly lit profile, while her sleeve create a diagonal. Her opposite figure creates a broader but less defined reflection of her attention, making a diagonal space between them, in which their charge stands protected.[i]

A further internal diagonal passes through the space occupied by the Infanta. There is a similar connection between the female dwarf and the figure of Velázquez himself, both of whom look towards the viewer from similar angles, creating a visual tension. The face of Velázquez is dimly lit by light that is reflected, rather than direct. For this reason his features, though not as sharply defined, are more visible than those of the dwarf who is much nearer the light source. This appearance of a total face, full-on to the viewer, draws the attention, and its importance is marked, tonally, by the contrasting frame of dark hair, the light on the hand and brush, and the skilfully placed triangle of light on the artist's sleeve, pointing directly to the face.[52]

The mirror is a perfectly defined unbroken pale rectangle within a broad black rectangle. A clear geometric shape, like a lit face, draws the attention of the viewer more than a broken geometric shape such as the door, or a shadowed or oblique face such as that of the dwarf in the foreground or that of the man in the background. The viewer cannot distinguish the features of the king and queen, but in the opalescent sheen of the mirror's surface, the glowing ovals are plainly turned directly to the viewer.Jonathan Millerpointed out that apart from "adding suggestive gleams at the bevelled edges, the most important way the mirror betrays its identity is by disclosing imagery whose brightness is so inconsistent with the dimness of the surrounding wall that it can only have been borrowed, by reflection, from the strongly illuminated figures of the King and Queen".[53]

As the maids of honour are reflected in each other, so too do the king and queen have their doubles within the painting, in the dimly lit forms of the chaperone and guard, the two who serve and care for their daughter. The positioning of these figures sets up a pattern, one man, a couple, one man, a couple, and while the outer figures are nearer the viewer than the others, they all occupy the same horizontal band on the picture's surface.[52]

Adding to the inner complexities of the picture is the male dwarf in the foreground, whose raised hand echoes the gesture of the figure in the background, while his playful demeanour, and distraction from the central action, are in complete contrast with it. The informality of his pose, his shadowed profile, and his dark hair all serve to make him a mirror image to the kneeling attendant of the Infanta. However, the painter has set him forward of the light streaming through the window, and so minimised the contrast of tone on this foreground figure.[52]

Despite certain spatial ambiguities this is the painter's most thoroughly rendered architectural space, and the only one in which a ceiling is shown. According to López-Rey, in no other composition did Velázquez so dramatically lead the eye to areas beyond the viewer's sight: both the canvas he is seen painting, and the space beyond the frame where the king and queen stand can only be imagined.[54]The bareness of the dark ceiling, the back of Velázquez's canvas, and the strict geometry of framed paintings contrast with the animated, brilliantly lit and sumptuously painted foreground entourage.[52]Stone writes:

We cannot take in all the figures of the painting in one glance. Not only do the life-size proportions of the painting preclude such an appreciation, but also the fact that the heads of the figures are turned in different directions means that our gaze is deflected. The painting communicates through images which, in order to be understood, must thus be considered in sequence, one after the other, in the context of a history that is still unfolding. It is a history that is still unframed, even in this painting composed of frames within frames.[55]

According to Kahr, the composition could have been influenced by the traditional Dutch Gallery Pictures such as those byFrans Francken the Younger,Willem van Haecht,orDavid Teniers the Younger.Teniers' work was owned by Philip IV and would have been known by Velázquez. LikeLas Meninas,they often depict formal visits by important collectors or rulers, a common occurrence, and "show a room with a series of windows dominating one side wall and paintings hung between the windows as well as on the other walls". Gallery Portraits were also used to glorify the artist as well as royalty or members of the higher classes, as may have been Velázquez's intention with this work.[56]

Mirror and reflection

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Detail of the mirror in van Eyck'sArnolfini Portrait.Van Eyck's painting shows the pictorial space from "behind", and two further figures in front of the picture space, like those in the reflection in the mirror inLas Meninas.

The spatial structure and positioning of the mirror's reflection are such that Philip IV and Mariana appear to be standing on the viewer's side of the pictorial space, facing the Infanta and her entourage. According to Janson, not only is the gathering of figures in the foreground for Philip and Mariana's benefit, but the painter's attention is concentrated on the couple, as he appears to be working on their portrait.[36]Although they can only be seen in the mirror reflection, their distant image occupies a central position in the canvas, in terms of social hierarchy as well as composition. As spectators, the viewer's position in relation to the painting is uncertain. It has been debated whether the ruling couple are standing beside the viewer or have replaced the viewer, who sees the scene through their eyes. Lending weight to the latter idea are the gazes of three of the figures—Velázquez, the Infanta, and Maribarbola—who appear to be looking directly at the viewer.[57]

The mirror on the back wall indicates what is not there: the king and queen, and in the words of Harriet Stone, "the generations of spectators who assume the couple's place before the painting".[29]Writing in 1980, the critics Snyder and Cohn observed:

Velázquez wanted the mirror to depend upon the useable [sic] painted canvas for its image. Why should he want that? The luminous image in the mirror appears to reflect the king and queen themselves, but it does more than just this: the mirror outdoes nature. The mirror image is only a reflection. A reflection of what? Of the real thing—of the art of Velázquez. In the presence of his divinely ordained monarchs... Velázquez exults in his artistry and counsels Philip and Maria not to look for the revelation of their image in the natural reflection of a looking glass but rather in the penetrating vision of their master painter. In the presence of Velázquez, a mirror image is a poor imitation of the real.[58]

In theArnolfini Portrait(1434),Jan van Eyckuses an image reflected in a mirror in a manner similar to Velázquez inLas Meninas.[15]

InLas Meninas,the king and queen are supposedly "outside" the painting, yet their reflection in the back wall mirror also places them "inside" the pictorial space.[59]

Snyder proposes it is "a mirror of majesty" or an allusion to themirror for princes.While it is a literal reflection of the king and queen, Snyder writes "it is the image of exemplary monarchs, a reflection of ideal character".[60]Later he focuses his attention on the princess, writing that Velázquez's portrait is "the painted equivalent of a manual for the education of the princess—a mirror of the princess".[61]

The painting is likely to have been influenced byJan van Eyck'sArnolfini Portrait,of 1434. At the time, van Eyck's painting hung in Philip's palace, and would have been familiar to Velázquez.[15][62]TheArnolfini Portraitalso has a mirror positioned at the back of the pictorial space, reflecting two figures who would have the same angle of vision as does the viewer of Velázquez's painting; they are too small to identify, but it has been speculated that one may be intended as the artist himself, though he is not shown in the act of painting. According to Lucien Dällenbach:

The mirror [inLas Meninas] faces the observer as in Van Eyck's painting. But here the procedure is more realistic to the degree that the "rearview" mirror in which the royal couple appears is no longer convex but flat. Whereas the reflection in the Flemish painting recomposed objects and characters within a space that is condensed and deformed by the curve of the mirror, that of Velázquez refuses to play with the laws of perspective: it projects onto the canvas the perfect double of the king and queen positioned in front of the painting.[35]

Jonathan Miller asks: "What are we to make of the blurred features of the royal couple? It is unlikely that it has anything to do with the optical imperfection of the mirror, which would, in reality, have displayed a focused image of the King and Queen". He notes that "in addition to therepresentedmirror, he teasingly implies an unrepresented one, without which it is difficult to imagine how he could have shown himself painting the picture we now see ".[63]

Interpretation

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The elusiveness ofLas Meninas,according to Dawson Carr, "suggests that art, and life, are an illusion".[64]The relationship between illusion and reality were central concerns in Spanish culture during the 17th century, figuring largely inDon Quixote,the best-known work ofSpanish Baroque literature.In this respect,Calderón de la Barca'splayLife is a Dreamis commonly seen as the literary equivalent of Velázquez's painting:

What is a life? A frenzy. What is life?
A shadow, an illusion, and a sham.
The greatest good is small; all life, it seems
Is just a dream, and even dreams are dreams.[64]

Detail showing the red cross of theOrder of Santiagopainted on the breast of Velázquez. Presumably this detail was added at a later date, as the painter was admitted to the order by the king's decree on 28 November, 1659.[65]

Jon Manchip White notes that the painting can be seen as a résumé of the whole of Velázquez's life and career, as well as a summary of his art to that point. He placed his only confirmedself-portraitin a room in the royal palace surrounded by an assembly of royalty,courtiers,and fine objects that represent his life atcourt.[27]The art historianSvetlana Alperssuggests that, by portraying the artist at work in the company of royalty and nobility, Velázquez was claiming high status for both the artist and his art,[66]and in particular to propose that painting is aliberalrather than a mechanical art. This distinction was a point of controversy at the time. It would have been significant to Velázquez, since the rules of the Order of Santiago excluded those whose occupations were mechanical.[5]Kahr asserts that this was the best way for Velázquez to show that he was "neither a craftsman or a tradesman, but an official of the court". Furthermore, this was a way to prove himself worthy of acceptance by the royal family.[67]

Michel Foucault devoted the opening chapter ofThe Order of Things(1966) to an analysis ofLas Meninas.Foucault describes the painting in meticulous detail, but in a language that is "neither prescribed by, nor filtered through the various texts of art-historical investigation".[68]Foucault viewed the painting without regard to the subject matter, nor to the artist's biography, technical ability, sources and influences, social context, or relationship with his patrons. Instead he analyzes its conscious artifice, highlighting the complex network of visual relationships between painter, subject-model, and viewer:

We are looking at a picture in which the painter is in turn looking out at us. A mere confrontation, eyes catching one another's glance, direct looks superimposing themselves upon one another as they cross. And yet this slender line of reciprocal visibility embraces a whole complex network of uncertainties, exchanges, and feints. The painter is turning his eyes towards us only in so far as we happen to occupy the same position as his subject.[69][70]

For Foucault,Las Meninasillustrates the first signs of a newepisteme,or way of thinking. It represents a midpoint between what he sees as the two "great discontinuities" in European thought, the classical and the modern: "Perhaps there exists, in this painting by Velázquez, the representation as it were of Classical representation, and the definition of the space it opens up to us... representation, freed finally from the relation that was impeding it, can offer itself as representation in its pure form."[69][71]

Now he (the painter) can be seen, caught in a moment of stillness, at the neutral centre of his oscillation. His dark torso and bright face are half-way between the visible and the invisible: emerging from the canvas beyond our view, he moves into our gaze; but when, in a moment, he makes a step to the right, removing himself from our gaze, he will be standing exactly in front of the canvas he is painting; he will enter that region where his painting, neglected for an instant, will, for him, become visible once more, free of shadow and free of reticence. As though the painter could not at the same time be seen on the picture where he is represented and also see that upon which he is representing something. "[72]

In his 2015 analysis, Xavier d'Hérouville brings the painting closer to its first name, namely "The Family of Philippe IV", which at the time earned it the term "theology of painting"[46]byLuca Giordano,contemporary painter of Velázquez. Through this representation, the painter would have conceptualized the divine view of his creation. When the spectator places himself in front of the canvas, in place of the King's study for which this painting was very exclusively intended, he finds himself instantly invested with the divine power, that of "seeing without being seen"the Family of Philip IV.The interface that constitutes this canvas must therefore be considered as a "one-way mirror"in which each of the protagonists of this representation looks at themselves, and behind which the monarch invests divine power, and his wife, can at leisure and in complete discretion to contemplate their life's work, their" Family ", in the broadest sense of the term. Further still, this canvas can be seen not only as a summary of the state of advancement of his art at the time of painting, but also as acurriculum vitæof Velázquez's life and career. The latter having gone so far as to represent himself in this "fresco" at three key periods of his own existence within the Court of Spain: in the background and to the left, as the King's painter, then to the right this time, at the very heart ofthe Family of Philip IV,alongside the governess, as valet of the King's bedroom, and finally at the back and in the center, camped on the stairs, as Aposentador or Marshal of the Palace, the supreme function he exercised as the King's best friend and confidant.[73][74][75]

Las Meninasas culmination of themes in Velázquez

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Diego Velázquez'sChrist in the House of Martha and Mary,1618. The smaller image may be a view to another room, a picture on the wall, or a reflection in a mirror.

Many aspects ofLas Meninasrelate to earlier works by Velázquez in which he plays with conventions of representation. In theRokeby Venus—his only surviving nude—the face of the subject is visible, blurred beyond any realism, in a mirror. The angle of the mirror is such that although "often described as looking at herself, [she] is more disconcertingly looking at us".[76]In the earlyChrist in the House of Martha and Maryof 1618,[j]Christ and his companions are seen only through a serving hatch to a room behind, according to theNational Gallery(London), who are clear that this is the intention, although before restoration many art historians regarded this scene as either a painting hanging on the wall in the main scene, or a reflection in a mirror, and the debate has continued.[k][l]The dress worn in the two scenes also differs: the main scene is in contemporary dress, while the scene with Christ uses conventional iconographic biblical dress.[l]

InLas Hilanderas,believed to have been painted the year afterLas Meninas,two different scenes from Ovid are shown: one in contemporary dress in the foreground, and the other partly in antique dress, played before a tapestry on the back wall of a room behind the first. According to the critic Sira Dambe, "aspects of representation and power are addressed in this painting in ways closely connected with their treatment inLas Meninas".[7]In a series of portraits of the late 1630s and 1640s—all now in the Prado—Velázquez painted clowns and other members of the royal household posing as gods, heroes, and philosophers; the intention is certainly partly comic, at least for those in the know, but in a highly ambiguous way.[80]

Velázquez's portraits of the royal family themselves had until then been straightforward, if often unflatteringly direct and highly complex in expression. On the other hand, his royal portraits, designed to be seen across vast palace rooms, feature more strongly than his other works the bravura handling for which he is famous: "Velázquez's handling of paint is exceptionally free, and as one approachesLas Meninasthere is a point at which the figures suddenly dissolve into smears and blobs of paint. The long-handled brushes he used enabled him to stand back and judge the total effect. "[34]

Influence

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Francisco Goya'sCharles IV of Spain and His FamilyreferencesLas Meninas,but is less sympathetic towards its subjects than Velázquez's portrait.[81]

In 1692, theNeapolitanpainterLuca Giordanobecame one of the few allowed to view paintings held in Philip IV's private apartments, and was greatly impressed byLas Meninas.Giordano described the work as the "theology of painting",[46]and was inspired to paintA Homage to Velázquez(National Gallery, London).[82]By the early 18th century his oeuvre was gaining international recognition, and later in the century British collectors ventured to Spain in search of acquisitions. Since the popularity ofItalian artwas then at its height among British connoisseurs, they concentrated on paintings that showed obvious Italian influence, largely ignoring others such asLas Meninas.[83]

An almost immediate influence can be seen in the two portraits byJuan Bautista Martínez del Mazoof subjects depicted inLas Meninas,which in some ways reverse the motif of that painting. Ten years later, in 1666, Mazo painted Infanta Margaret Theresa, who was then 15 and just about to leave Madrid to marry the Holy Roman Emperor. In the background are figures in two further receding doorways, one of which was the new King Charles (Margaret Theresa's brother), and another the dwarf Maribarbola. A Mazo portrait of the widowed Queen Mariana again shows, through a doorway in the Alcázar, the young king with dwarfs, possibly including Maribarbola, and attendants who offer him a drink.[84][85]Mazo's painting ofThe Family of the Artistalso shows a composition similar to that ofLas Meninas.[86]

Francisco GoyaetchedaprintofLas Meninasin 1778,[87]and used Velázquez's painting as the model for hisCharles IV of Spain and His Family.As inLas Meninas,the royal family in Goya's work is apparently visiting the artist's studio. In both paintings the artist is shown working on a canvas, of which only the rear is visible. Goya, however, replaces the atmospheric and warm perspective ofLas Meninaswith what Pierre Gassier calls a sense of "imminent suffocation". Goya's royal family is presented on a "stage facing the public, while in the shadow of the wings the painter, with a grim smile, points and says: 'Look at them and judge for yourself!'"[81]

John Singer Sargent,The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit,1882, oil on canvas, 222.5 x 222.5 cm,Boston Museum of Fine Arts

The 19th-century British art collectorWilliam John Bankestravelled to Spain during thePeninsular War(1808–1814) and acquired a copy ofLas Meninaspainted by Mazo,[88]which he believed to be an original preparatoryoil sketchby Velázquez—although Velázquez did not usually paint studies. Bankes described his purchase as "the glory of my collection", noting that he had been "a long while in treaty for it and was obliged to pay a high price".[89]

A new appreciation for Velázquez's less Italianate paintings developed after 1819, whenFerdinand VIIopened the royal collection to the public.[88]In 1879John Singer Sargentpainted a small-scale copy ofLas Meninas,while his 1882 paintingThe Daughters of Edward Darley Boitis a homage to Velázquez's panel. The Irish artistSir John Laverychose Velázquez's masterpiece as the basis for his portraitThe Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, 1913.George Vvisited Lavery's studio during the execution of the painting, and, perhaps remembering the legend that Philip IV had daubed the cross of the Knights of Santiago on the figure of Velázquez, asked Lavery if he could contribute to the portrait with his own hand. According to Lavery, "Thinking that royal blue might be an appropriate colour, I mixed it on the palette, and taking a brush he [George V] applied it to the Garter ribbon."[88]

Between August and December 1957, Pablo Picasso painted a series of 58 interpretations ofLas Meninas,and figures from it, which currently fill theLas Meninasroom of theMuseu Picassoin Barcelona, Spain.[90]Picasso did not vary the characters within the series, but largely retained the naturalness of the scene; according to the museum, his works constitute an "exhaustive study of form, rhythm, colour and movement".[91]A print of 1973 byRichard HamiltoncalledPicasso's Meninasdraws on both Velázquez and Picasso.[92]PhotographerJoel-Peter Witkinwas commissioned by theSpanish Ministry of Cultureto create a work titledLas Meninas, New Mexico(1987) which references Velázquez's painting as well as other works by Spanish artists.[93]

During 1957Pablo Picassopainted 58 recreations ofLas Meninas.[91]

In 2004, the video artistEve Sussmanfilmed89 Seconds at Alcázar,a high-definition video tableau inspired byLas Meninas.The work is a recreation of the moments leading up to and directly following the approximately 89 seconds when the royal family and their courtiers would have come together in the exact configuration of Velázquez's painting. Sussman had assembled a team of 35, including an architect, a set designer, a choreographer, a costume designer, actors, and a film crew.[94]

A 2008 exhibition at the Museu Picasso called "Forgetting Velázquez:Las Meninas"included art responding to Velázquez's painting byFermín Aguayo,Avigdor Arikha,Claudio Bravo,Juan Carreño de Miranda,Michael Craig-Martin,Salvador Dalí,Juan Downey,Goya, Hamilton, Mazo,Vik Muniz,Jorge Oteiza,Picasso,Antonio Saura,Franz von Stuck,Sussman,Manolo Valdés,and Witkin, among others.[95][96]In 2009 the Museo del Prado published online photographs ofLas Meninasat a resolution of 14,000megapixels.[97][98]The Greek painterKyriakos Katzourakisalso refers toLas Meninasin his painting,Las Meninas(1976),which is on display in the National Gallery of Athens, Greece.

See also

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Notes

[edit]
  1. ^The name is sometimes given in print asLas Meniñas,but there is no word "meniña"in Spanish. The word means" girl from a noble family brought up to serve at court "(Oxford Concise Spanish Dictionary) and comes frommenina(Portuguesefor 'girl'). Thismisspellingmay be due to confusion withniña(Spanishfor 'girl')
  2. ^In 1855, William Stirling wrote inVelázquez and his works:"Velázquez seems to have anticipated the discovery ofDaguerreand, taking a real room and real people grouped together by chance, to have fixed them, as it were, by magic, for all time, on canvas ".[1]
  3. ^Mariana of Austria had originally beenbetrothedto Balthasar Charles.
  4. ^There is no documentation as to the dates or reasons for the trimming. López-Rey states that the truncation is more notable on the right.[16]
  5. ^abcRecords of 1735 show that the original frame was lost during the painting's rescue from the fire. The appraisal of 1747–48 makes reference to the painting having been "lately restored".[17]
  6. ^The work was evacuated toGenevaby the Republican Government, together with much of the Prado's collection, during the last months of theSpanish Civil War,where it hung in an exhibition of Spanish paintings in 1939.[22]
  7. ^Maria Theresa was by then queen of France as wife ofLouis XIV of France.Philip Prospero, Prince of Asturias,was born the following year, but died at four, shortly before his brother Charles II was born. One daughter from this marriage, and five from Philip's first marriage, had died in infancy.
  8. ^"And a couple of Lyme-hounds of singular qualities which the King and Queen in very kind manner accepted."[28]
  9. ^"The composition is anchored by the two strong diagonals that intersect at about the spot where the Infanta stands..."[51]
  10. ^According to López-Rey, "[The Arnolfini Portrait] has little in common with Velázquez' composition, the closest and most meaningful antecedent to which is to be found within his own oeuvre inChrist in the House of Martha and Mary,painted almost forty years earlier, in Seville, before he could have seen the Arnolfini portrait in Madrid ".[77]
  11. ^The restoration was in 1964, and removed earlier "clumsy repainting".[78]
  12. ^abJonathan Miller, for example, in 1998, continued to regard the inset picture as a reflection in a mirror.[79]

References

[edit]
  1. ^López-Rey (1999), Vol. I, p. 211
  2. ^Kubler, George (1966). "Three Remarks on the Meninas".The Art Bulletin.48(2): 212–214.doi:10.2307/3048367.JSTOR3048367.
  3. ^abKahr (1975), p. 225
  4. ^Gower, Ronald Sutherland(1900).Sir Thomas Lawrence.London, Paris & New York: Goupil & co. p.83.
  5. ^abHonour & Fleming (1982), p. 447
  6. ^Prado (1996), p. 216
  7. ^abDambe, Sira (December 2006)."Enslaved sovereign: aesthetics of power in Foucault, Velázquez and Ovid".Journal of Literary Studies.22(3–4): 229–256.doi:10.1080/02564710608530402.S2CID143516350.Archivedfrom the original on 24 March 2021.Retrieved17 March2021.
  8. ^abCarr (2006), p. 46
  9. ^Canaday, John (1972) [1969]. "Baroque Painters".The Lives of the Painters.New York: Norton Library.ISBN978-0-393-00665-0.
  10. ^Kahr (1975), quoting Pacheco.
  11. ^Alpers (2005), p. 183
  12. ^Levey, Michael(1971).Painting at Court.London:Weidenfeld & Nicolson.p. 147.ISBN978-0-8147-4950-0.
  13. ^Greub, Thierry. "Der Platz Des Bildes Und der »Platz Des Königs«: Diego Velázquez’ ‘Las Meninas’ Im Sommer-Arbeitszimmer Philipps IV",Zeitschrift Für Kunstgeschichte78, no. 3/4 (2015): 441–87.JSTOR
  14. ^Palomino (1715/24), p.342
  15. ^abcLópez-Rey (1999), Vol. I, p. 214
  16. ^López-Rey (1999), Vol. II, p. 306
  17. ^López-Rey (1999), Vol. II, pp. 306, 310
  18. ^abcLópez-Rey (1999), Vol. II, pp. 310–11
  19. ^Editorial (January 1985). "The cleaning of 'Las Meninas'".The Burlington Magazine.127(982). Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd: 2–3, 41.JSTOR881920.
  20. ^Zeri, Federico (1990).Behind the Image, the art of reading paintings.London:Heinemann.p. 153.ISBN978-0-434-89688-2.
  21. ^Adnan Qiblawi,"Art Bites: Why Conservation of Velázquez's 'Las Meninas' Caused a Nationwide Uproar".artnet,July 8, 2024.
  22. ^"Masterpieces caught between two wars".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 9 June 2008.Retrieved15 December2007.
  23. ^McKim-Smith, G.; Andersen-Bergdoll, G.; Newman, R. (1988).Examining Velazquez.New Haven:Yale University Press.ISBN978-0-300-03615-2.
  24. ^"Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas".ColourLex.Archivedfrom the original on 31 July 2015.Retrieved19 March2021.
  25. ^abcAlpers (2005), p. 185
  26. ^Gaggi (1989), p. 1
  27. ^abcdWhite (1969), p. 143
  28. ^Baker, Richard(1684).A Chronicle of the Kings of England.London: H. Sawbridge, B. Tooke and T. Sawbridge. p. 408.Archivedfrom the original on 24 March 2021.Retrieved19 March2021.
  29. ^abcdStone (1996), p. 35
  30. ^Leppanen, Analisa (2000). "Into the house of mirrors: the carnivalesque in Las Meninas".Aurora.1.page numbers unknown
  31. ^Snyder (1985), p. 571
  32. ^abcCarr (2006), p. 47
  33. ^Palomino (1715/24). Quoted in: Kahr (1975), p. 225
  34. ^abHonour & Fleming (1982), p. 449
  35. ^abDällenbach, Lucien (1977).Le récit spéculaire: Essai sur la mise en abyme.Paris:Seuil.p. 21.ISBN978-2-02-004556-8.Quoted in English in Stone (1996), p. 29
  36. ^abJanson, H. W.(1977).History of Art: A Survey of the Major Visual Arts from the Dawn of History to the Present Day(2nd ed.). New Jersey:Prentice-Hall.p. 433.ISBN978-0-13-389296-3.
  37. ^Snyder (1985), p. 547
  38. ^Gaggi (1989), p. 3
  39. ^White (1969), p. 144
  40. ^Chapter 19 ofGombrich, Ernst(1950).The Story of Art.London & New York:Phaidon Press.
  41. ^López-Rey (1999), Vol. I, pp. 214–16
  42. ^Steinberg (1981), p. 52
  43. ^Clark (1960), p. 33
  44. ^Kahr (1975), p. 244
  45. ^abClark (1960), pp. 32–40
  46. ^abcWhite (1969), pp. 140–41
  47. ^Steinberg (1981), p. 51
  48. ^Foucault (1966), p. 21
  49. ^Ortega y Gasset, José(1953).Velázquez.New York:Random House.p. XLVII.
  50. ^López-Rey (1999), p. 217
  51. ^López-Rey (1999), p. 217
  52. ^abcdLópez-Rey (1999), pp. 216–217
  53. ^Miller (1998), pp. 78–79
  54. ^López-Rey (1999), p. 217
  55. ^Stone (1996), p. 37
  56. ^Kahr (1975), p. 240
  57. ^Gaggi (1989), p. 2
  58. ^Snyder & Cohn (1980), p. 485
  59. ^Lowrie, Joyce (1999). "Barbey D'Aurevilly's Une Page D'Histoire: A poetics of incest".Romanic Review.90(2): 379–395.
  60. ^Snyder (1985), p. 559
  61. ^Snyder (1985), p. 564
  62. ^Campbell, Lorne (1998).The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings.London:National GalleryCatalogues (new series). p. 180.ISBN978-1-85709-171-7.
  63. ^Miller (1998), pp. 78, 12
  64. ^abCarr (2006), p. 50
  65. ^López-Rey (1999), Vol. II, p. 308
  66. ^Alpers (2005), p. 150
  67. ^Kahr (1975), p. 241
  68. ^Gresle (2007), p. 212
  69. ^abGresle (2007), p. 213
  70. ^Foucault (1966), pp. 4–5
  71. ^Foucault (1966), p. 18
  72. ^Foucault (1966), pp. 3–4
  73. ^Xavier d'Hérouville (2015).Les Ménines ou l'art conceptuel de Diego Vélasquez(in French). L'Harmattan, collection Ouverture philosophique, série Esthétique. p. 77-119.ISBN978-2-343-07070-4..
  74. ^d'Hérouville, Xavier; Caulier, Aurore (2023).Diego Velázquez's "Payment of Tribute".HAL archives-ouvertes.fr.
  75. ^Xavier d'Hérouville (2024)."Les Ménines de Diego Vélasquez".YouTube.
  76. ^Miller (1998), p. 162
  77. ^López-Rey, Vol. I, p. 214
  78. ^MacLaren (1970), p. 122
  79. ^Miller (1998), p. 162
  80. ^Prado (1996), pp. 428–31
  81. ^abGassier (1995), pp. 69–73
  82. ^Brady (2006), p. 94
  83. ^Brady (2006), p. 97
  84. ^MacLaren (1970), pp. 52–53.
  85. ^National GalleryArchived24 October 2007 at theWayback MachineThe painting has been cut down.
  86. ^Beaujean, Dieter (2001).Velasquez.London: Konemann. p. 90.ISBN978-3-8290-5865-0.
  87. ^Gassier (1995), p. 24
  88. ^abcBrady (2006), pp. 100–101
  89. ^Harris, E (1990).Velázquez y Gran Bretana.Seville: Symposium Internacional Velázquez. p. 127.
  90. ^Claustre Rafart i Planas,Picasso's Las Meninas.Translation by Valerie Collins. Editorial Meteora, 2001.
  91. ^ab"Picasso".Museu Picasso.Archived fromthe originalon 14 July 2009.Retrieved19 November2007.
  92. ^"Picasso's meninas 1973".London:Tate Gallery.Archivedfrom the original on 24 November 2010.Retrieved26 December2007.
  93. ^Parry, Eugenia; Witkin, Joel (2001).Joel-Peter Witkin.London:Phaidon.p. 66.ISBN978-0-7148-4056-7.Archivedfrom the original on 24 March 2021.Retrieved14 November2015.
  94. ^Sawkins, Annemarie."Eve Sussman's 89 Seconds at Alcázar".Marquette University.Archived fromthe originalon 19 December 2007.Retrieved7 December2007.
  95. ^"Forgetting Velázquez. Las Meninas".Museu Picasso of Barcelona. 2008.Archivedfrom the original on 15 February 2009.Retrieved22 October2009.
  96. ^Utley, Gertje; Gual, Malén (2008).Olvidando a Velázquez: Las Meninas.Barcelona:Museu Picasso.ISBN978-84-9850-089-9.
  97. ^"The 14 masterpieces of the Prado museum in mega high resolution on Google Earth".Museo de Prado.Archivedfrom the original on 1 February 2021.Retrieved14 February2021.
  98. ^Tremlett, Giles (13 January 2009)."Google brings masterpieces from Prado direct to armchair art lovers".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 21 December 2019.Retrieved14 February2021.

Sources

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Further reading

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