Ángela Linares González Inglés – 1º Grado de Historia

LAS MENINAS

Las Meninas is a portrait of group painted by master of Spanish Gold Century Diego Velázquez,
he painted this artwork in 1656 in Madrid (Spain). This painting belongs to the artistic period
of The Baroque. We don´t know if the work was commissioned by King Phillip IV of Spain or
was carried out on the author´s own initiative. The technique used to realize this painting is oil
on canvas. The work is very big, with a dimensions of 320,5 cm x 281,5 cm. Las Meninas
represent a daily life scene of royal family in the Royal Alcazar of Madrid. Nowadays, this
painting stays in the Museo del Prado of Madrid. I have chosen this artwork for describing
because the I liked studying The Baroque in History of Art during 2º of Bachiller and this
painting is one of the greatest exponents of the Spanish Baroque and of Spanish History of Art
in general. Besides, Velazquez is one of the greatest exponents of the Universal History of Art.
The transcendence of this painting is enormous, even, Luca Giordano considered this artwork
like the “theology of painting” and Sir Thomas Lawrence (President of the Royal Academy of
Arts) referred to the painting as the “authentic philosophy of painting”.

1
Ángela Linares González Inglés – 1º Grado de Historia

This portrait represents a painting session of Velazquez with the kings of Spain, this is
interrupted by the arrival of the little princess with her court. The painting represents a room of
the Royal Alcazar of Madrid, with the walls covered with paintings of different artist, for
example, work of Tiziano and Rubens. In the foreground, we can see a little girl, she is the
Infanta Margaret Therese (daughter of Spanish king at this moment) with 5 years old. There are
several people surrounding the girl, on the left a woman kneels faced with her, and, on the right,
other woman does a reverence for her. In this group there are also a jester, a dwarf woman with
Dawn Syndrome, and a kid that steps on a dog. On the left of the foreground, there is a self-
portrait of Velazquez in front of a big canvas. On the background, the scene is much darker.
We can see a hanging mirror that reflect the image of Phillip IV and Mariana of Austria, kings
of Spain in this time; an open door with the silhouette of a man, he is Joseph Nieto the
chamberlain of the queen; and other two people. This is a very complex composition, due to
the large number of characters (eleven in all). The vanishing point of the perspective is behind
the door, where is Joseph Nieto. The light comes from an offstage window and fall upon in the
center of the painting, causing a great contrast of lights and shadows. The painter used cold
colours. The contours are very clear, which allows a great representation of the atmosphere.

This painting is a royal portrait, so it represents a defense of the monarchy, but Velazquez used
this painting as a revindication of his work as a painter. In this time, Velazquez aspired to
become a Hidalgo, a noble person. He painted himself with his paintbrush and palette to defend
the paint as an intellectual activity, in this way, he would prove that he didn´t work and he
would be closer to become a Hidalgo. With the same objective, he represented himself with the
cross of the Orden de Santiago, an order for noble people. Other objective of this paint is
representing the strict etiquette of the time, one example of this is the very serious facial
expression of the little girl. One of the characteristics that makes this painting more special is
the representation of the author himself within the painting, later this influenced many other
artists; one example is Goya, he represents himself in the paint The family of Carlos IV. Without
a doubt, I would recommend anyone who visit Las Meninas, and, in general the entire Museo
del Prado, especially those who like The History of Art will enjoy a lot.