Diego de Velazquez
Diego de Velazquez
In recent years, critics have taken to saying that Velazquez (1599-1660) created not just a great set of paintings or even one of the greatest paintings, but, in fact, *the* greatest painting in the history of the world. That painting is called “Las Meninas” (1656) –the handmaids –and you should… Lookat “Las Meninas” among the attachments. There can be no doubting that it’s a wonderful painting. (By the way, it is a huge work –almost life size.) But we’ve seen tons of great paintings. What is so specialabout this one? Well, what is happening in the painting? The focus (at first) has to be on the little girl –La Infanta –the five year old Princess of Spain. The two older girls flanking her are “las meninas” her handmaids. In fact, the one on the left has apparently just given the princess a small red water cup. Check out the dresses on all three of them –check out especially the extra wide hips on those dresses. It reminds you of… That’s right, The Venus of Willendorf. Most of the people in the painting are looking right at you, but of course, it isn’t you they’re looking at. At the back of the room, there is a mirror. In it, we can see the King and Queen of Spain. They are the ones who have entered the room and caught everyone’s attention. The utmostdeference is paid to them –this is not like current monarchy. There are a huge number of rules for everything in the royal court, the handmaid who gave the princess water is in the middle of curtsying as she gives the water. When the king and queen enterany room, everything comes to a screeching halt.
Behind the girls there is a nun who is actually the princess’s chaperone. Next to her is the princess’s bodyguard. Near the dog in the foreground are two dwarves –an older lady, and a boy. All the way in the back of the room standing in the doorway is the Chamberlain –he works for the palace and part of his duties are to accompany the queen and open doors for her. But wait. If the king and queen have just come in and startled everyone, then who is Velazquez supposed to be painting? I mean, at first it seems obvious that he’s painting the royal couple since the mirror shows us that they’re standing right in front of him, but we see everyone is surprised. It hardly seems like the royal couple has been standing there for the past hour being painted… Or maybe he was painting the princess… But the angle she stands at in relation to him seems all wrong for that. Her back is to him for one thing. Or maybe he’s painting something else altogether. Nothing to do with the royal family. Then why is everybody in the room? The painting is a bit of a trick. Since we can’t possibly decide what the Velazquez in the painting is in the process of painting, the painting turns into a painting about painting… (Yes, read that sentence again. Terrible, but it had to be done.) So maybe the purpose of the painting is to show you that it is an illusion –Velazquez was able to make you feel like YOU interrupted the work in progress. In fact, if the canvas we see in the painting is the one that the painting is on, then maybe YOU are the painter. Your subject and the canvas are both in front of you. What’s your next move? Clever, no? There are many masterful elementsin the painting –the use of light and shadow (why is there so much shadow if the painter is at work? Shouldn’t there be more light?) the capturing of this instant when everything stops… But I think there are some flaws with the painting as well. I’m not happy with the amount of empty space –the ceiling is huge and doesn’t do much, I think. Also, the paintings on the back wall take up space, but they don’t show us anything. So is it great? Yes. Is it the greatest ever? You decide.
