Las Meninas

Las Meninas

Diego Velazques
1656

If I had to pick a piece to start with, I'd have to choose Las Meninas, hands down. It's been my all time favorite painting for a reaally long time. There's so many things going on in this scene. What I love about it though is that he created it in a way that you feel you're in the room yourself.

So where to begin...

Originally, Velazquez was hired to do a portrait of King Philip IV of Spain and his wife. Maybe even their kid, little Margarita. Fat chance though, try getting a five-year-old to sit still for a few hours. That's why her whole entourage of maids (ladies in waiting-meninas), body guard, chaperone, Mastiff, and dwarfs are seen in the painting keeping her company. Not kidding! Little people were literally hired to amuse aristocratic children in those days.

And where are the King and Queen?..

You'll see the royal couple in that tiny lil' mirror on the wall in the far back of the room. Kind of a rip-off on their part huh?

I probably heard this in a class, not sure, but I think there's a mirror behind the King and Queen.

That would make LOADS of sense cause Vazquez would be painting the reflection he gets from that mirror behind them. It's just a hunch so I'll look it up. Van Eyck did something similar in his baroque Arnolfini Portrait.

To me it looks like Don Jose, the guy on the stairs in the back, just passed by, glanced back at this scene, and continued up the stairs to wherever he had to go, but no one's entirely sure if he's going up or down, that's the beauty of it.

Vazquez included one of Ruben's and Jordeans' works on the back wall there, talk about a "mega-masterpiece."

And last but not least, Vazquez painted himself with his brush and palette looking out from behind his canvas. What a neat guy!

God, I love art. And Las Meninas is just one more reason to love it even more. So if you ever find yourself in Madrid, stop by the Museo del Pardo and see her with your very own eyes..