LAS MENINAS: More Than Just A Portrait?

Las Meninas is a 17th century painting, a portrait that almost seems of doll like figurines rather then that of a princess. Made by Diego Velázquez, a painting from the Spanish golden age. Made in 1656, many of its features go unnoticed by a casual observer. It is a complex piece of art made with great precision and has a quite a few features that remain uncommon in portraits. A hint of mystery, a hint of facts, the painting couldn't be more mesmerising.

Inspiration

The painting is a commissioned portrait.

That little sentence seems to remove any room or need for inspiration, doesn't it?  Well, as mentioned above this isn't your stereotypical portrait. For it's a royal portrait but it also shows you so much more than just little girl in the portrait of the painting. It was made in a room of the Royal Alcazar in Madrid, Spain; probably in the painter's studio itself. It was made after Velázquez had been at The Royal Residence and had made himself an indispensable to King Philip IV.
The Royal Alcazar in Madrid, Spain

Its name literally means 'Ladies in Waiting'. It characterizes many people yet somehow they all just seem to go unnoticed. All we see is the little 5 year old, right in the centre with all the light focused towards her. Who is she? let's find out.....

Interpretation and Feature

  • The painting is of an infant Margaret Theresa, the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain from his second marriage. She was one of his 2 children who made it to adulthood and the only daughter yet died at the age of 21. She married Leopold I, hence becoming the Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia.
A Portrait of Margaret Theresa when she was older

  • Even though it is Margaret's portrait, Velázquez has a rather untraditional cast featured in it:
    • The 2 ladies in waiting: Maria-Augustina Sarmiento, who offers water to the future empress and Isabel de Velasco, who is curtsying.
(1) offering water , (2) curtsying

    • The 2 female dwarfs :Maribarbola with her battered face, and Nicolas de Pertusato, who teasingly kicks the sleepy dog lolling on the floor. Dwarfs were often associated with goo luck.
the 2 dwarfs

    • The governess: standing in the is Marcela de Ulloa, Theresa's governess. She seems to be dressed for mourning.
the governess

    • The Marshal of the Queen's Palace : Passer-by in the open doorway is Don Jose de Nieto  Velázquez , who may or may not be related to the painter himself. He is seen pushing the curtains aside, peeping in and allowing more light to enter in the room.
the passerby

    • Unknown man: the man who seems to be talking to the governess is the only person left unidentified in the painting.

    • Of course there is a dog in it. All good things come alongside a cute dog.
The dog



  • The man at the in front of the giant canvas is  Velázquez himself. It is a self portrait in the background where he can be seen holding a colour palette and painting on a canvas which seems huge enough to touch the ceiling.
(1) canvas , (2)The self portrait and colour palette

  • The unseen content on the canvas has been under great speculation. There are 2 widely believed theories though: 
    •  The painter is shown as if he is seeing Theresa and painting Las Meninas itself.
    • Due to him looking straight towards the audience, it is also believed he is shown painting the King and Queen who stand in front of them.
  •   Velázquez has found a clever way to incorporate the King and Queen in the painting. There is a mirror in the background. Faint reflections can be seen in it. There are many arguments about it but the reflection is either from  Velázquez's canvas or the place where the spectator is standing.
the mirror with reflection

  • The painting is made such that it looks like it's from King Philip's point of view. After it was made the painting did remain in his office away from all prying eyes until his death.
  • The painting is maid with oil paints with a sort of wet-on-wet technique. There is a brilliant use of light, if one looks at painting closely they'll see that all light is focused on the central figure of the portrait, Theresa Margaret.
  • The painting in ENORMOUS. 10.4 ft * 9.06 ft. It is almost surprising how he must have painted it.
Las Meninas on display

  • The red cross that appears on  Velázquez tunic it of The Order Of Santiago, the Spanish Knighthood. This was added later on to the painting when Velázquez had been knighted.
the red cross of Spanish knighthood

Interesting Facts

  • The painting was not allowed to be seen by the public until in the 19th century, when it was put on display at the Prado Museum, Spain. It is displayed their currently and has been recently reopened after a 3 month shutdown.
El Museo Prado

  • This is the only known self-portrait  Velázquez ever made.
  •  The painting has an inestimable cultural value but if estimated it would sell for no less than $1 billion.
  • It was originally named 'Retro De La Señora Emperatriz Con Sus Damas Y Una Enana' (Portrait of Empress with her Ladies and a Drawf) as seen in 1666. While in 1734 it was called 'La Familia'. The name 'Las Meninas' was given much later.
  •  United Kingdoms has its own version of 'Las Meninas'. It is considerably smaller but is suspected to be Velázquez's work only.
  • Over the years many painters have obsessed over this painting. For example : Pablo Picasso himself made multiple versions of 'Las Meninas'.
Adaptations by Picasso

This painting doesn't have a real interpretation, yet the way it is made makes it seem to have great impact on the viewer's mind to search for meaning. This has eluded historians and scholars for ages but no meaning has been reached.


Hope you found the information and interesting. Please leave a comment, your feedbacks are very appriciated. Everyone is also welcome to leave requests. Please subscribe for newsletter (option on the top) also follow me on instagram @detail_artwith_a12 for instant updates.

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