habsburg spainconcept:movement baroque
Las Meninas
Oil on canvas by Diego Velázquez, 1656. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Depicts the Infanta Margaret Theresa with her ladies-in-waiting (meninas), attendants, and a large dog, in the royal apartments of the Alcázar Palace in Madrid. One of the most discussed and analysed paintings in the history of Western art.
Notes
- ·Michel Foucault's analysis in 'Les Mots et les Choses' (The Order of Things, 1966) made Las Meninas the paradigmatic image for his discussion of Classical representation — the painting depicts itself being depicted, making the viewer's gaze and the artist's gaze reciprocal.
- ·Velázquez depicts himself at work on a large canvas at the left edge; the canvas faces away from the viewer. The reflected image in the mirror at the back wall shows Philip IV and Mariana of Austria, who are presumably the subjects being painted — but we cannot see what is on Velázquez's canvas.
- ·The Infanta Margaret Theresa (age 5 in 1656) is the central figure. She is attended by two ladies-in-waiting (meninas), a dwarf, and a large mastiff dog.
- ·A Knight of Santiago's cross was added to Velázquez's chest after his death, reportedly by order of Philip IV who honoured him with the knighthood.
- ·The work has generated more scholarly analysis than almost any other single painting: on perspective, representation, gender, power, and self-portraiture.
- ·Francis Bacon's series of 'screaming popes' (1950s) were made in response to Velázquez's Portrait of Innocent X, not Las Meninas, though Bacon engaged with Velázquez broadly.