Baroque Blog

I have decided to pick "Las Meninas" (1656) by Velazquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y for this week's Baroque Blog. This painting was created on a 320.5 x 281.5 cm canvas as oil painting and it is displayed at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain. This painting was "one of Velazquez's largest paintings and he made more effort to create since it has a sense of life and reality while enclosing a dense network of meanings." (“Las Meninas - the Collection - Museo Nacional Del Prado”). If we look at this painting, it will seem like they are looking at us, which makes it amazing and mysterious in what they are actually looking at. 

The scene that was put for this painting was "carefully constructed using perspective, geometry, and visual illusion to create a tangible space, but one with an aura of mystery, where the spectator's viewpoint is an integral part of the painting." (Owen). Velazquez not only "captured the physical likeness of his subjects, but his use of loose brushstrokes to create texture and movement in clothing was revolutionary." (Stewart). How everyone is placed on the painting, including Velazquez himself, just made it more interesting of what is going on inside the Royal Palace. For me, this kind of painting really took a toll on me with the reality vs expectation because as an audience, we only see the final product of the art piece once the artist is finished with them, but with this piece, it's like Velazquez is showing us the 'behind the scenes' of what goes on during those time when he was painting. 

When Velazquez was painting Las Meninas, he has already been working at King Philip IV court for 30 years which says a lot about his reputation and place. It seems that Velazquez was there when King Philip's first wife and their only son died and when the king remarried Queen Mariana of Austria with Margaret Theresa as their only daughter. "This painting stayed at King Philip's private office at his summer, until 1819 it remained in the Royal Palace which after time it became part of the collection of the Prado Museum." (Stewart). 

The first time I have seen this painting was through a video of someone talking about the interesting hidden things behind the painting. I must admit that learning about this painting made me go back and read about it. "Las Meninas" meaning "Ladies in Waiting" was the breaking point "from the stiff formal portraits that typically defined royalty. This canvas shows Infanta Margaret Theresa, the king's daughter, surrounded by her entourage as Velazquez stands behind an easel painting her portrait." (Stewart). One of the most interesting things about this painting is who the princess, painter, and other people in the room were looking at. Later on, I learned that who they were looking at were King Philip IV and Queen Mariana of Austria, which we can see them from the mirror in the background.

Although it's looks beautiful and I must admit that it also looks mysterious, I would not want to own a copy of this painting because it is not just something that I would own and not really my style to put it up. But it would be one of the things I would look at it again and to study it again.

Resources Cites: 

“Las Meninas - the Collection - Museo Nacional Del Prado.” Museodelprado.es, Museo del Prado, 2009, www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/las-meninas/9fdc7800-9ade-48b0-ab8b-edee94ea877f.

Owen, Peter D. “Painting | History, Elements, Techniques, Types, & Facts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Jan. 2019, www.britannica.com/art/painting.

Stewart, Jessica. “The History and Mystery of ‘Las Meninas’ by Diego Velázquez.” My Modern Met, 6 Aug. 2019, mymodernmet.com/diego-velazquez-las-meninas/.