DIEGO VELAZQUEZ | LAS MENINAS C.E. 1656 (THE MAIDS OF HONOR)

DIEGO VELAZQUEZ LAS MENINAS C.E. 1656 (THE MAIDS OF HONOR)

Sridatta Teerdahla, Venu Poruri, Pratyush Mallick AP ART HISTORY | DeWitte 5th

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BIOGRAPHY

3 | TIMELINE | FAMOUS WORKS | LIFE & LEGACY

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez

(1599 C.E. - 1660 C.E.)

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TIMELINE 1618

June 6th, 1599

1643

Married Juana

Born in Seville, Spain

Appointed a Knight of Santiago

LIFE

(Pacheco's Daughter)

1617 Completed apprenticeship with Pacheco

1623 Commissioned to paint in the Court of King Philip IV

WORKS

1618 - 1620 | Early Works

Old Woman Cooking Eggs

The Waterseller of Seville

April 6th, 1660 Died in Madrid, Spain

1634 - 1650 | Later Works

Equestrian Portrait of Elisabeth of France

Self-Portrait

King Philip IV In Armour

Innocent X

1651 - 1657 | Masterpieces

1623 - 1628 | Commission

King Philip IV

Mars, God of War

La Infanta Margarita

Las hilanderas

Las Meninas

FAMOUS WORKS

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Las Meninas

Christ Crucified Bacchus

Mar, God of War

LIFE & LEGACY

LIFE Born in Seville, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez was the first of 6 children born the Juan Rodriguez and Jeronima Velazquez. In his early life he apprenticed with Francisco Pacheco, an accomplished painter and Spanish polymath. In this early period, art was centered around depicting religious or royal narratives. Velazquez often went against this norm by portraying regular scenes from all walks of life. While at the start of his career he explored mythology, history, and sacred subjects, Diego was commissioned into the court of King Philip IV, where he painted countless works for the Spanish royal family. Following his work for the Spanish crown, he began to explore beyond the traditional baroque traditions and took on more varied projects. Closer to the end of his life, Diego Velazquez was named a Knight of Santiago and continued to created some of his more famous works including Las Meninas and a portrait of Pope Innocent IX.

LEGACY It would take until the early 1800s for Velazquez' work to gain wide notoriety. He was named a key infleunce on the work of Édouard Manet and the Impressionists, characterized for his free and loose brushstrokes and bold lighting techniques. He would go on to impart his legacy on a countless number of famed artists from the likes of Dalí to Picasso. In fact, Las Meninas was so influential to Pablo Picasso that he recreated it 58 times in his cubist style in the late 1950s. Even today, many proclaim Velazquez' work as some of the greatest paintings of all time. A 1985 London News poll, proclaimed that Velazquez' Las Meninas is truly considered to be one of the most important pieces of art in human history.

LAS MENINAS By the time Velázquez painted Las Meninas, he'd been working at the court of King Philip IV for over 30 years as the palace chamberlain. During the remaining eight years of his life, he painted only a few works, mostly portraits of the royal family. It was here that Velazquez decided to paint Las Meninas in order to encapsulate the entire essense of the royal family through one masterpiece.

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LAS MENINAS (THE MAIDS OF HONOR)

1656 C.E.

"THE WORLD'S GREATEST PAINTING" London News, 1985

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CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS 8

9 | INFLUENCES | INTENTIONS | IMPACT LAS MENINAS | CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

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INFLUENCES Las Meninas was a painting created by Diego Velรกzquez while he was the chamberlain of the Spanish Royal Court at Alcรกzar, under the commission of King Philip IV. Many scholars also attribute influences on Las Meninas to artists from Velazquez' travels through Italy and early arts training.

Titians

Rubens Caravaggio

Pesaro Madonna

The Taking of Christ

The Abduction of Ganymede

King Philip IV

INTENTIONS Velazquez' purpose in creating Las Meninas is, much like many other aspects of the subject matter, a highly debated topic among modern scholars. A number of art historians believe that Velรกzquez used it as an oppourtunity to display the beauty and importance of painting within the court.

On the other hand, many who observed the red cross on his chest, symbolizing the Order of Santiago, have different beliefs on Velรกzquez' purpose. The Order is extremely difficult to get into, but Diego Velรกzquez was able to join by decree of the King. Many art historians beleive that the cross was added on posthumously by King Philip IV himself or by his order.

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IMPACT So, what does it mean? This is one of the most hotly debated questions in regards to Velรกzquez' masterpiece.

There is no clear answer, but our initial research has allowed us to come up with one conclusion: mirrors & movement. While yes, artists have experimented with mirrors before, Velรกzquez takes it to another level. The clever strategy in which he convets strategic movement of the figures' eyes and creates a painting enhanced by spontaneity, allows Velรกzquez to literally capture a snapshot of the Royal Court of King Philip IV. Long before the invention of the camera, Velรกzquez was able to take the audience into the exact, raw moment of when this painting was made. Whoever is looking at the painting both a spectator and a participant, a figure behind Velรกzquez portrait stand beside the reflection of the King and Queen.

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VISUAL ANALYSIS 13

| DEPICTION | ANALYSIS | THEMES LAS MENINAS | VISUAL ANALYSIS

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DEPICTION Las Meninas is a glimpse into the aristocratic, luxurious lifestyle of the Spanish Royal Family. The scene depicts Velazquez himself painting a group portrait of the princess, Infanta Margarita, and her ladies-in-waiting. This painting was intended to be viewed by only King Philip VI and the Queen privately, which evident by the depiction of the royal couple in the mirror on the back wall.

In the forefront along with Infanta and her ladies-in-waiting are dwarves who keep the children company and a dog.

On the back wall paintings by Ruben, including Ovid's The Metamorphosis. can be seen. Ruben was an inspiration for Valesquez.

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Visual Analysis Immediately, Velasquez's masterful use of light and shadow is evident. Velasquez painted the background of the artwork with muted, dark colors in order to contrast the bright, vibrant colors of Infanta and her ladies-in-waiting. This contrast (chiaroscuro) highlights Infanta and underscores her radiance and splendor. When it comes to shadows, Velasquez employs them nearly everywhere from the bottom of Infanta's dress to Velasquez's easel and canvass in order to transform the piece into a life-like, yet dramatic, scene.

Valesquies also masterfully uses linear perspectives to create immense depth. By directing the vanishing point towards the back wall's door, Velasquez creates an illusion that the room is large and vast, once again underscoring the opulence and magnificence of the royal family.

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THEMES Velazquez wanted to show the grandeur of the Spanish Royal Family, specifically by highlighting the princess. This was particularly important to the royal family, as they were known for their unattractive physical features due to inbreeding.

However, another interpretation of this artwork is that the scene is a commentary over the illusion of art and wealth. Velazquez may be arguing that art and wealth are transient and that real beauty and fulfillment lie somewhere not in the material. This is possible as Velazques was not born into nobility and had to work particularly hard to earn his position.

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STYLISTIC ANALYSIS 18

| STYLISTIC ANALYSIS | VOCABULARY | INFLUENCES LAS MENINAS | STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

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Stylistic Analysis Velazquez employs the Italian (Southern) Baroque style in Las Meninas, drawing upon influences from Carravagio and other talented painters from this style and time period. In particular, the painting has a marked Caravaggesque chiaroscuro, showcasing immense contrast between the figures in the foreground illuminated by light seeping in from the front and the door in the back and the shadows elsewhere, which serves to create the heightened sense of drama and emotion typical of Baroque art. Despite painting the piece with incredibly loose and unrestrained brushstrokes, Velazquez formed a continuous and naturalistic piece with photo-like realism.

At the same time, Las Meninas's asymmetrical composition coupled with characters captured in the middle of movement (turning to look at the viewer) lends to a uniquely chaotic and informal depiction of the royal family of Spain. Like other Baroque artwork, Las Meninas sought to involve the viewer and inspire faith. The majority of the characters in the painting look directly at the viewer, and Velazquez wears the insignia of the Catholic Order of Santiago.

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Associated Vocab Italian Baroque Style: a 17th Century art style deriving from Rome, Italy, Baroque art incorporated religious themes (drawing from the Counter-Reformation) and dramatic emotions

Counter Reformation: a Catholic resurgence, predominantly in Southern Europe, in response to the Protestant Reformation

Chiaroscuro: the use of exaggerated light contrasts in order to create the illusion of volume

Naturalism: the depiction of realistic objects or people in a natural setting

Linear Perspective: a style of art where the size, shape, and position of objects and people depends on imaginary lines that converge to a point on the horizon; this effect gives the illusion of depth and dimensionality

Vanishing Point: the point on the horizon where the receding lines converge at in a linear perspective painting

Order of Santiago: a Catholic religious and military order dedicated to defending Christian interests, particularly in Spain; the insignia, the cross of St. James makes frequent appearances in Western art; Velazquez was knighted into the order three years after Las Meninas was finished

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Artwork Comparison 22 At first glance, Velazquez's and Picasso's renditions of the Las Meninas painting appear strikingly different. In Velazquez's art, the composition centers around the Infanta Margarita, but the painter in Picasso's piece appears disproportionately large and holds two palettes instead of one, paying an homage to Velazquez, the original painter, while reinforcing the idea that the painter is the most important part in the process of creating art. Picasso's take on the scene also opens up windows on the right, letting in far more light than Velazquez's piece does, yet blacks and whites still dominate the composition of Picasso's work, a reference to how Picasso used a black and white reference photograph of the original painting by Velazquez to make his own version (Picasso had also seen the painting in person in the Prado 60 years before when he was just 14). In fact, over the course of 5 months, Picasso intensely studied Velazquez's painting, creating 44 new paintings based on it. Post-WW2 Picasso was known to recreate old Spanish masterpieces (both Velazquez and Picasso are from Spain, the former from the 17th century and the latter from the 20th), but his recreations of Las Meninas are the most exhaustive out of all such works due to the high respect Picasso had for Velazquez. The most notable difference though, is Picasso's departure from Velazquez's naturalism, depicted in vertical portraiture, in favor of abstract cubism, portrayed in a horizontal composition. Despite this, both paintings capture the chaotic and informal nature of the reality of Spanish royal life, perhaps with the new unruly geometric representations of the canvas, crowded boxes, and masks on the lefthand side in Picasso's arguably further lending to that. In addition, both works depict all the same main characters -- the painter, the princes, the maids, the dog, etc -- and make heavy use of contrast between light and shadow and linear perspective, adding to the illusion of depth, space, volume in the room, contributing to the depiction of the opulence of the Spanish Royal family. Both paintings also show the Infanta dressed in white, a reference to her innocence and purity since Velazquez wanted to bring out the best in the royal family considering that he was the favorite royal court painter.

Picasso, now an accomplished independent artist in old age, sought to pay his respects to his sister, who passed away at a young age, in the form of the innocent Infante.

OTHER INSPIRED WORKS 1882

1801

Clockwise from Top Left: John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit; Francisco Goya, Charles IV of Spain and His Family; Pablo Picasso, Las Meninas; Morimura Yasumasa, Las meninas reborn in the night IV

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DESIGN SYSTEM

TEXT CRIMSON PRO BOLD CRIMSON PRO BOLD CRIMSON PRO BOLD

Footnote

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