LasMeninasbyDiegoVelzquezLet'sthemtalk

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Las Meninas by Diego VelzquezLas Meninas. Subjet matter. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 24Oct. 2013. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. Las Meninas is set in Velzquez's studio in Philip IV's Alczar palace in Madrid. The high-ceilingedroom is presented, in the words of Silvio Gaggi, as "a simple box that could be divided into aperspective grid with a single vanishing point". In the centre of the foreground stands the InfantaMargaret Theresa. The five-year-old infanta, who later married Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, wasat this point Philip and Mariana's only surviving child. She is attended by two ladies-in-waiting, ormeninas: doa Isabel de Velasco, who is poised to curtsy to the princess, and doa Mara AgustinaSarmiento de Sotomayor, who kneels before Margaret Theresa, offering her a drink from a red cup, orbucaro, that she holds on a golden tray. To the right of the Infanta are two dwarfs: the achondroplasticGerman, Maribarbola (Maria Barbola), and the Italian, Nicolas Pertusato, who playfully tries to rouse asleepy 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 shownpausing, 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 acurtain on a short flight of stairs, with an unclear wall or space behind. Both this backlight and theopen doorway reveal space behind: in the words of the art historian Analisa Leppanen, they lure "oureyes 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 byextending the line of the meeting of wall and ceiling on the right. Nieto is seen only by the king andqueen, who share the viewer's point of view, and not by the figures in the foreground. In the footnotesof Joel Snyder's article, the author recognizes that Nieto is the queen's attendant and was required to beat hand to open and close doors for her. Snyder suggests that Nieto appears in the doorway so that theking and queen might depart. In the context of the painting, Snyder argues that the scene is the end ofthe royal couple's sitting for Velzquez and they are preparing to exit, explaining that is "why themenina 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 byan 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 addedafter Velzquez's death, "and some say that his Majesty himself painted it". From the painter's belthang the symbolic keys of his court offices.

A mirror on the back wall reflects the upper bodies and heads of two figures identified from otherpaintings, and by Palomino, as King Philip IV and Queen Mariana. The most common assumption isthat the reflection shows the couple in the pose they are holding for Velzquez as he paints them, whiletheir 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. Theirglances, along with the king and queen's reflection, affirm the royal couple's presence outside thepainted space. Alternatively, art historians H. W. Janson and Joel Snyder suggest that the image of theking 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 isabout the same size as Las Meninas. Las Meninas contains the only known double portrait of the royalcouple painted by Velzquez.

The point of view of the picture is approximately that of the royal couple, though this has been widelydebated. Many critics suppose that the scene is viewed by the king and queen as they pose for a doubleportrait, while the Infanta and her companions are present only to relieve their boredom. Leo Steinbergsuggests that the King and Queen are to the left of the viewer and the reflection in the mirror is that ofthe canvas, a portrait of the king and queen. Others speculate that Velzquez represents himselfpainting the Infanta Margaret Theresa. No single theory has found universal agreement.