Let'sthemtalk

LasMeninasbyDiegoVelzquez

byPatriciaLucaswithwww.phrase.it

Las Meninas: Let's them talk on Twitter

Las Meninas by Diego Velzquez

Las Meninas. Subjet matter. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 24
Oct. 2013. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas#Subject_matter>
Las Meninas is set in Velzquez's studio in Philip IV's Alczar palace in Madrid. The high-ceilinged
room is presented, in the words of Silvio Gaggi, as "a simple box that could be divided into a
perspective grid with a single vanishing point". In the centre of the foreground stands the Infanta
Margaret Theresa. The five-year-old infanta, who later married Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, was
at this point Philip and Mariana's only surviving child. She is attended by two ladies-in-waiting, or
meninas: doa Isabel de Velasco, who is poised to curtsy to the princess, and doa Mara Agustina
Sarmiento de Sotomayor, who kneels before Margaret Theresa, offering her a drink from a red cup, or
bucaro, that she holds on a golden tray. To the right of the Infanta are two dwarfs: the achondroplastic
German, Maribarbola (Maria Barbola), and the Italian, Nicolas Pertusato, who playfully tries to rouse a
sleepy mastiff with his foot. Behind them stands doa Marcela de Ulloa, the princess's chaperone,
dressed in mourning and talking to an unidentified bodyguard (or guardadamas).
To the rear and at right stands Don Jos Nieto Velzquez the queen's chamberlain during the 1650s,
and head of the royal tapestry workswho may have been a relative of the artist. Nieto is shown
pausing, with his right knee bent and his feet on different steps. As the art critic Harriet Stone observes,
it is uncertain whether he is "coming or going". He is rendered in silhouette and appears to hold open a
curtain on a short flight of stairs, with an unclear wall or space behind. Both this backlight and the
open doorway reveal space behind: in the words of the art historian Analisa Leppanen, they lure "our
eyes inescapably into the depths". The royal couple's reflection pushes in the opposite direction,
forward into the picture space. The vanishing of the perspective is in the doorway, as can be shown by
extending the line of the meeting of wall and ceiling on the right. Nieto is seen only by the king and
queen, who share the viewer's point of view, and not by the figures in the foreground. In the footnotes
of Joel Snyder's article, the author recognizes that Nieto is the queen's attendant and was required to be
at hand to open and close doors for her. Snyder suggests that Nieto appears in the doorway so that the
king and queen might depart. In the context of the painting, Snyder argues that the scene is the end of
the royal couple's sitting for Velzquez and they are preparing to exit, explaining that is "why the
menina to the right of the Infanta begins to curtsy".
Velzquez himself is pictured to the left of the scene, looking outward past a large canvas supported by
an easel. On his chest is the red cross of the Order of Santiago, which he did not receive until 1659,
three years after the painting was completed. According to Palomino, Philip ordered this to be added
after Velzquez's death, "and some say that his Majesty himself painted it". From the painter's belt
hang the symbolic keys of his court offices.
A mirror on the back wall reflects the upper bodies and heads of two figures identified from other
paintings, and by Palomino, as King Philip IV and Queen Mariana. The most common assumption is
that the reflection shows the couple in the pose they are holding for Velzquez as he paints them, while
their daughter watches; and that the painting therefore shows their view of the scene.
Of the nine figures depicted, five are looking directly out at the royal couple or the viewer. Their
glances, along with the king and queen's reflection, affirm the royal couple's presence outside the
painted space. Alternatively, art historians H. W. Janson and Joel Snyder suggest that the image of the
king and queen is a reflection from Velzquez's canvas, the front of which is obscured from the viewer.
Other writers say the canvas Velzquez is painting is unusually large for a portrait by Velzquez, and is
about the same size as Las Meninas. Las Meninas contains the only known double portrait of the royal
couple painted by Velzquez.
The point of view of the picture is approximately that of the royal couple, though this has been widely
debated. Many critics suppose that the scene is viewed by the king and queen as they pose for a double
portrait, while the Infanta and her companions are present only to relieve their boredom. Leo Steinberg
suggests that the King and Queen are to the left of the viewer and the reflection in the mirror is that of
the canvas, a portrait of the king and queen. Others speculate that Velzquez represents himself
painting the Infanta Margaret Theresa. No single theory has found universal agreement.