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Great Art Explained
Great Art Explained: Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez
Great Art Explained: Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez
Great Art Explained
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31:01 · Jul 26, 2024
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Las
menas
Diego
Velasquez's
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Las menas Diego Velasquez's
0:07
portrait of a Spanish princess and her entourage
0:10
is one of if not the most widely discussed painting
0:13
in Western Art every viewing
0:16
raises more questions and every answer
0:19
is followed by a dense network
0:20
of meanings it is not only a high point of realism
0:24
in painting a perfect
0:26
lifelike depiction of the Spanish Court
0:28
it is also a complex
0:30
meditation on painting itself
0:33
it is a spellbinding
0:34
work that is concerned
0:36
with how we view a painting
0:37
and how the subjects in a painting
0:39
view US Velasquez was 57
0:42
years old when he painted this and had been the court painter for over
0:46
30 years but in this painting
0:48
for the first time he includes himself
0:51
among the courtiers painting
0:53
a Monumental canvas 10 and 1/2 ft tall
0:56
by 9 ft wide
0:58
the same size as the actual
1:00
painting that the painted canvas
1:02
is shown within but who is he
1:05
painting the infanta the king and queen of Spain
1:09
or is he painting you
1:11
looking at him early in his career
1:31
Velasquez produced several of these kitchen or Tavern scenes
1:34
known in Spanish as bod gones
1:37
they showed Ordinary People in ordinary
1:40
settings often with hidden allegorical
1:42
meaning when he was just 18
1:45
he painted this extraordinary
1:46
work which shows a precocious
1:48
talent for capturing the everyday moment
1:51
and clearly shows his immense skill in depicting
1:54
different materials and textures
1:56
as well as his Mastery of light and Shadow
1:59
on both op C and reflective
2:01
surfaces the detail of the eggs frying in hot oil
2:05
is a masterclass this painting
2:08
which was probably painted to show off his skills
2:10
became his calling card to the Royal Palace
2:13
here the water dripping down The Jug
2:16
demonstrates his astonishing ability
2:18
to create an almost photographic
2:20
reality common people were always treated with dignity
2:24
by the artist and his early paintings
2:26
not only showed a supremely
2:28
confident technique and ATT attention to detail
2:31
he gave workers a gravitas
2:33
in his paintings Diego
2:38
Rodriguez dilva I Velasquez
2:40
was born in 1599
2:42
in Seville to a family with plenty of intellect
2:45
but little financial means
2:47
precociously talented he began a six-year apprenticeship
2:51
when he was 12 years old
2:52
with the painter Francisco
2:54
Pacho learning classical techniques of painting
2:58
but the young artist quickly moved moved away from P's
3:01
old-fashioned stiff style towards a new dramatic
3:04
naturalism inspired by Caravaggio
3:07
and his followers there is no evidence he saw caravaggio's
3:10
work in person but he knew the work of p sson
3:14
a Dutch painter accredited
3:15
with the invention of the Monumental
3:17
genre scene which combines still life and genre
3:20
painting and often includes a Biblical scene in the background
3:24
almost like a split screen effect
3:27
Velasquez painted several of these types of scenes and he is clearly
3:31
already experimenting with illusion
3:33
with the picture within a picture
3:35
something he will perfect later
3:37
in Las meninas in 1623
3:41
2 years after Philip IV came to the throne in Spain at the age
3:44
of 16 Velasquez who was already being talked about in the right circles
3:49
was summoned to Madrid
3:51
to paint a portrait of the king
3:53
which we think is this one
3:55
it was an immediate
3:56
success and he was pronounced
3:58
official painter to the king
3:59
on the spot with a promise
4:02
that no one else should portray the king without his permission
4:06
a remarkable achievement for such a young man
4:09
and one which awakened
4:10
jealousy from the other court
4:12
painters Philipe IV of Spain and Velasquez
4:15
were linked together like no other patronage
4:17
in art history he first painted him at the age of 24
4:21
and 33 years later
4:23
this painting would be his last of the king
4:26
their relationship was unusually
4:28
close for a monarch and his painter
4:30
and the King often came to Velasquez
4:32
while he was painting in his Workshop
4:34
just for a quick chat
4:36
it has been said that the principal
4:38
motivating force in Velasquez's
4:40
life was the desire to be a nobleman
4:42
and he would remain attached to the court for the rest of his life
4:46
where step by step
4:47
he would Ascend through the hierarchy
4:49
of Court appointments working his way up to a Knighthood
4:54
and he used Las Manas
4:55
to prove that he should be considered
4:57
as a Noble at the same time he is painting his Masterpiece
5:01
a committee are deciding
5:03
whether he can be made a knight of the order of Santiago
5:06
in other words be
5:08
ennobled there is a reason he has put himself in one of his paintings
5:12
for the first time on an equal footing
5:14
with Spanish royalty it is so important to
5:18
understand that a painter in 17th
5:20
century Spain and elsewhere
5:22
was considered as just another crafts
5:24
person like a carpenter
5:26
in other words a manual
5:28
worker and like most most Court painters
5:30
he had many other jobs
5:32
Velasquez was also the Royal
5:34
Chamberlain a job that involved looking after the palace
5:37
buying firewood bedding and Crockery
5:40
he had a key to every room in the palace
5:43
and we can see here hanging from the painters belt
5:46
the symbolic keys of his court offices
5:48
of which he was inordinately
5:50
proud he was also the curator of the king's galleries
5:53
responsible for negotiating the purchase of hundreds of Works
5:57
in fact almost every teacher
5:59
you see today in the pra
6:01
was bought by Velasquez
6:02
on trips to Italy
6:04
the artist had a long life but only produced
6:06
between 110 and 120
6:09
known canvases he produced no etchings
6:11
or Engravings and only a few drawings are attributed
6:14
to him this all ties into to his two enormous
6:18
but mutually exclusive Ambitions
6:21
he wanted to be seen as the greatest painter of the Spanish court
6:25
but he also wanted to go down in history
6:27
as a great gentleman
6:29
the problem was that throughout his time in the palace
6:32
his close friendship with the King meant he had his enemies in the court
6:35
who were determined to stop his rise
6:38
through the ranks Philipe became king in 1621
6:44
at the age of 16
6:46
and heir to the hapsburg
6:47
art collection in Madrid
6:49
in a court that commissioned
6:51
not only paintings but poetry and theater too
6:54
we often talk about the Golden Age of Spain
6:57
and it was a time when great palaces were being built
7:00
and culture was flourishing
7:01
with among others El Greco
7:03
Velasquez zaran Murillo and
7:07
cantes but Philip IV was in trouble for much of his rule
7:12
mainly because of long drawn out expensive
7:14
Wars revolts revolutions and trouble in the colonies
7:18
but also because of genetics
7:20
and inbreeding for two centuries
7:23
the hapsburg Kings had married first cousins
7:25
nieces and aunts resulting
7:28
in an onslaught of physical
7:29
and mental ailments because of their limited gene
7:32
pool the distinctive hapsburg
7:35
jaw we see on Philip IV
7:37
was inherited from earlier hapsburgs
7:39
and likely the result of the Royal Family's
7:42
inbreeding despite the Spanish Colonial
7:45
Empire the country was almost continuously
7:47
in financial difficulties and had declared bankruptcies
7:51
in 1647 and 1653
7:54
the Spanish royal family
7:56
was so broke that they often couldn't afford firewood to heat the palace
8:00
or bread for the tables
8:02
in fact when Velasquez
8:03
died the crown still owed him 17
8:06
years of salary payments
8:08
and yet what does las meninas
8:10
portray a wealthy family
8:12
dressed in the finest clothes money can buy
8:15
surrounded by gloriously attired
8:17
servants in an ornate
8:18
and Sumptuous setting like all Royal portraiture
8:22
it is a form of propaganda
8:24
designed to show a courtly audience
8:26
dynastic stability and Imperial
8:28
wealth but one thing Philip IV can't disguise
8:32
is the lack of a male Heir
8:34
he is on his second marriage by the time of this painting
8:37
he had 10 children with his first wife Isabelle
8:40
de Bon but only one son and Heir
8:43
his wife died in 1644
8:46
and then in 1646
8:47
their son died a year later in a hurry to create a new son
8:52
and Heir he married his 14-year-old
8:54
niece Maria Anna when he was 44
8:57
she gave him five children
8:59
but only two survived to adulthood
9:01
a daughter Margarita Theresa
9:03
born in 1651 the infanta
9:06
in Las Manas who sadly would die in her teens
9:09
and the Future King
9:10
Charles II of Spain
9:12
who was born 5 years after Las meninas
9:15
Charles however was severely
9:17
disabled thanks to inbreeding
9:19
and he would be the last of the Spanish
9:23
hapsburgs Velasquez's position at the court gave him unique access to the Royal collections
9:29
and he would naturally be influenced
9:31
by The Works he saw every day
9:33
he also visited Italy at least twice
9:35
on extended trips to buy paintings for Philipe IV
9:38
and to study the great
9:40
Masters he was accompanied on these trips by his enslaved
9:44
assistant a notable painter in his own right
9:46
juanda Bara who would be given his freedom by Velasquez
9:50
shortly after he painted this beautiful and dignified
9:53
portrait in 1650 the work's extraordinary
9:56
lifelike quality so astonished
9:58
the papal court that he was asked to paint Pope Innocent
10:02
I 10th one of the painter's
10:03
best and most psychologically
10:05
insightful Works which has been described
10:08
as a symphony in red
10:10
it is said that when the pope saw his portrait
10:12
completed he exclaimed somewhat bewildered
10:15
tropo Vero two truthful
10:19
the influence of contemporary
10:20
Italian artists can be seen in velasca's
10:22
Mastery of perspective and his rendering of the male nude
10:26
in this large canvas he painted
10:28
while in Rome it was tan and Peter Paul Rubin
10:31
who would have more influence
10:33
than any other artist
10:34
on the development of his style
10:36
and in particular his Royal portraits
10:38
where in some cases
10:39
we can clearly see stylistic
10:41
similarities between the great Masters
10:44
this early tan painting
10:45
hung in the Spanish Royal Palace when Philip IV
10:48
came to power and was used as the standard
10:51
by which all other Royal equestrian
10:53
portraits would be judged
10:55
and this spectacular life-sized
10:57
equestrian Portrait by Velasquez
10:59
of Philip IV was clearly influenced
11:01
by Tian and rubben
11:03
not only in its Simplicity
11:04
of pose but also in its depiction of the King as a restrained
11:08
and powerful ruler vasquez's
11:11
portrait however is livelier
11:13
more elegant and uses a lighter palet
11:15
and doesn't rely on a highly charged
11:18
background the Flemish painter rubben
11:21
even visited the Spanish Court of Philip IV
11:23
in 1628 he was actually on a diplomatic
11:27
Mission but still managed to paint
11:29
five portraits of Philipe
11:30
while he was there
11:32
he became great friends with Velasquez
11:34
and encouraged him to go to Italy to study the Italian
11:37
Masters to move away from kiar skuro
11:40
to be looser in his brush work
11:42
and to adopt a brighter palette color
11:44
rubben was not only a successful
11:46
painter but he was also an important
11:48
Diplomat who had been knighted
11:50
despite his humble background
11:52
the ambitious phasers saw rubben
11:54
as a role model
11:55
and through him he found someone he could identify
11:58
with it was tian's late works that inspired
12:01
both rubben and Velasquez
12:03
Tian used sketchy and Loosely applied brush work and he would drag and smudge
12:07
paint over the canvas
12:08
to suggest the form
12:10
rather than using definitive
12:12
Strokes he also used a very thick rough weave
12:15
for his canvases that gave texture to his surfaces
12:18
Velasquez would do the same
12:21
maybe less well known is the influence
12:23
of Sanchez coo and Antonis
12:25
Moore who were in The Royal collection
12:27
and would also be important to have Vas
12:29
helped Philipe IV Forge a calculated
12:32
image of power and
12:34
piety probably the biggest influence on L Manas
12:37
though was a painting from two centuries
12:39
earlier the arnoldi portrait
12:41
by Yan van Ike
12:43
that I discussed in my earlier
12:45
video this too was in the collection of Philip IV
12:48
and Velasquez would pass it every day on the way to his Studio
12:52
like Las menas the arnoldini
12:55
portrait also has a mirror
12:57
positioned at the back of the pictorial space
12:59
reflecting two figures who would have the same point of view as we do
13:04
it also plays with pictorial
13:06
space Reflections and illusion
13:08
not only in art but also in literature
13:11
for example Don kote
13:13
by Miguel de santes
13:15
is itself a complex
13:16
multifaceted picture of the relationship
13:19
between reality and illusion
13:24
Velasquez used a very coarse canvas
13:26
and he didn't use many preliminary
13:28
sketches that we we know of but rather he painted directly onto the canvas
13:33
as we can see with these x-rays
13:34
he often changed his work as he was painting it and these changes
13:38
are known as pentimento
13:40
Vasquez was so experienced
13:42
by the time of Las meninas
13:43
that the work has very few changes
13:45
apart from his self-portrait
13:47
which initially turned his head more towards the
13:50
infanta for much of his early career the artist used a red ground for
13:54
underlayer good for building up contrast
13:57
and tonal values the lights and the darks
14:00
but by the time of Las meninas
14:02
he had a much looser style and diluted
14:04
his pigments to make them more translucent
14:06
and fluid and he painted quite thinly
14:09
so this necessitated using a neutral
14:11
gray ground which allowed for a much wider tonal range
14:14
greater luminosity and a general
14:17
silvery range of color
14:19
this was unusual at the time as most canvases were primed using dark
14:23
colors he would paint ala Prima
14:26
or wet on wet where layers of wet paint are
14:29
to existing layers of wet paint
14:31
often finishing his paintings
14:32
in one session with a painting of this size and complexity
14:36
that would not be possible
14:38
and we can see one example in the infanta
14:40
sleeve where although it is mostly wet on wet
14:43
areas of highlights have been dabbed on later in thick impasto
14:47
to create texture with Velasquez
14:50
you are always aware that you are looking at paint
14:52
he doesn't try to hide his brush marks
14:55
quite the reverse by the time he came round to painting l minina
14:59
us his technique was at its freest
15:01
and most fluid it is often called a precursor
15:04
to impressionism but it's more than that
15:07
here the silver of the tray on which the Menina
15:10
holds the ceramic container
15:11
is achieved with a couple of flicks of white paint
15:14
and the flowers are just a few slashes
15:16
of red we often talk about kiar skuro
15:20
the extreme contrast of light and dark when we talk about Velasquez
15:23
and comparisons are often made with Caravaggio
15:26
he painted his most technically
15:28
carav I like picture
15:30
christed after the flagellation
15:32
early on but later he used a more subtle variation
15:35
of kiar skuro still using light to direct our vision but more subtly
15:40
as we can see
15:41
when we look at Las meninas
15:43
in grayscale Velasquez uses a dark color palette for Las Minas
15:48
mostly neutral colors and quite limited
15:51
and yet he manages to get a broad range of tones
15:54
with just whites Blues
15:55
yellows ochers and small touches of red that help draw your eyes around the
16:00
painting towards key points of
16:02
interest Basquez even lets us know
16:05
which colors he used as the palette
16:07
that the painter holds in his left hand as the very pigments
16:10
he used on Las
16:15
Manas between 1640 and 1660
16:18
Velasquez mostly painted single
16:20
portraits the composition and structure of Las Manas
16:24
was extremely complicated and with so many characters
16:27
it's really like the staging of a piece of of theater or performance
16:30
art it needed to be carefully planned out with every character seen
16:34
as well as being seen
16:36
in Velasquez his hands they are fully
16:39
individuals thanks to the 18th century art historian
16:42
Antonio Palamino who wrote A 1724
16:45
book on Spanish painters
16:47
we know quite a lot about the people in Las meninas
16:50
including their names Palomino
16:52
spoke to vasquez's colleagues
16:54
after his death as well as four of the nine people pictured in the
16:57
painting most of the members of the Court are grouped around the 5-year-old
17:01
infanta Margarita Teresa who is attended by two Manas
17:06
or ma in Waiting
17:07
Maria Austina sento who is passing her water in terra cotta pots
17:12
so it could be summer
17:14
and Isabelle de Velasco
17:15
who seems to be in mid curtsy
17:17
Velasquez had painted the princess
17:19
many times but unfortunately
17:21
she would die before she was out of her teens
17:24
she is in the center of the painting
17:26
with the central axis
17:27
passing between her eyes
17:29
her face is spotlit
17:30
by light coming from an unseen window top right
17:33
and her white satin dress glows
17:35
as she is bathed in the sun
17:38
it is the princess's
17:39
presence that makes this a political painting
17:41
as at the time the infanta
17:43
was the only child of Philip IV
17:45
with the dynastic succession
17:47
resting on her tiny
17:49
shoulders showing her as a healthy and beautiful princess
17:52
is important for future marriage
17:55
prospects we don't know the name of the dog but we know the breed
17:58
as a the Spanish Mastiff
18:00
which were bred as guard dogs
18:02
there are few artists
18:03
with such skill in painting animals
18:05
as Velasquez the dog is being nudged awake
18:08
by Nicholas perus an Italian dwarf and Court Jester
18:12
next to him is the Austrian
18:13
dwarf Maria babola who is depicted
18:16
in an unusual way for a person in her position at the time
18:20
people with dwarfism were considered Curiosities
18:23
as little more than pets
18:24
but Velasquez always gave dignity
18:26
to characters who due to their Prof profession or condition were treated as lesser
18:31
beings he shows Maria
18:33
standing upright beside the princess
18:35
she has a thoughtful
18:36
and controlled expression and is looking
18:39
directly at us or
18:41
the royal couple Velasquez
18:43
entered the service of the palace as a royal servant
18:46
and initially was considered a worker
18:48
just like the dwarves of the court or the jesters
18:51
and so he treated them with an empathy not seen before in Royal portraits
18:55
he never mocked them or caricatured
18:57
them and often made them the focal point
19:00
as fully fleshed out
19:01
humans in the shadows
19:03
this woman is Don machello
19:05
the infanta chaperon and she is in midc conversation
19:08
with an unidentified bodyguard
19:10
at the rear is Don Jose nto
19:12
Velasquez brother of the artist
19:14
and the Queen's Chamberlain
19:16
Velasquez had possibly painted him before
19:19
he has paused at the door pulling back the heavy exterior
19:22
curtain with one foot resting on a step while his weight is on his
19:26
other leg on a different step
19:28
as the queen Queen's attendant
19:29
he was required to be at hand to open and close doors for her
19:33
we don't know however if he is coming or going but the light
19:36
certainly pulls Us in and it looks
19:39
as if he will Usher all of us out from the created
19:41
world and into the real
19:44
world in this masterpiece
19:46
of Illusion Velasquez clearly goes beyond the physical confines of space
19:50
by playing with implied
19:51
spaces in this case the rest of the palace
19:55
Velasquez himself is pictured emerging
19:57
from behind the canvas
19:59
moving into our gaze
20:00
from the Shadows into the light
20:02
as he looks at us in the implied
20:04
space looking at him in the pictorial
20:07
space he is supremely
20:09
self-confident and certainly no subservient
20:12
courtier he is proudly holding the tools of his trade
20:15
his pallet is turned towards us showing
20:18
its colors he also holds a Mal stick used for steadying the hand when
20:22
doing close work and the long round brushes we know he used
20:26
which created soft edges
20:27
rather than hard lines
20:29
his brush is dipped in paint
20:31
and perhaps he is considering
20:32
whether to add some finishing touches
20:34
but it is also possible
20:36
that the first stroke
20:37
has not yet been applied
20:39
his hand is just a flurry
20:40
of Rapid brush strokes
20:42
and it would appear to be metamorphosing
20:44
into his brush as his flesh
20:47
becomes instrument it is audacious
20:50
that a servant albeit
20:51
a courtier and Royal favorite
20:53
has given himself greater prominence
20:55
than his master but it is all also inconceivable
20:59
that Philip IV did not give the concept
21:02
his Blessing in advance
21:04
in the same way the Queen's Chamberlain
21:05
is opening up the implied space beyond the picture frame
21:09
the mirror here is reflecting
21:10
the opposite direction forward
21:12
into the viewer space
21:15
the reflection is of King Philip IV
21:17
and Maria of Austria
21:19
the king and queen
21:20
we know it is a mirror and not a painting
21:23
as everything else is muted and fuzzy
21:25
whereas the image of the king and queen is bathed in light in the
21:28
leveled mirror giving them an almost divine
21:31
presence that is if we believe
21:34
the king and queen are in the same room as the other
21:39
characters the aforementioned historian
21:42
Palamino noted that the mirror which shows the royal couple
21:45
was actually a reflection
21:47
not of the real monarchs in the room but of the canvas Velasquez
21:50
is working on in other words
21:52
the couple are not in the room
21:55
this idea is disputed
21:56
though as the reflection
21:58
is not logical it has to be said though this is not the first
22:02
time Velasquez has painted an image which explores the relationship
22:05
between reality reflection and image
22:08
and which flouts the laws of Optics
22:11
here too we see the mirror
22:13
with this rather reflection
22:15
the constant speculation as to what is happening in this painting
22:19
who is where and why is absolutely
22:21
intentional on the part of
22:23
Velasquez whatever the study of perspective
22:26
or reflection tells us the Royal presence
22:28
is still the most plausible
22:30
explanation for the outward glances of the characters
22:33
and I think that the king and queen are in the room and the
22:36
mirror is a reflection of them at the far end of the room
22:40
sitting for Velasquez the fact that the Queen's Chamberlain
22:43
is opening the curon to the Palace suggests that the royal couple are preparing
22:47
to exit this would also explain the infanta's
22:50
Gaze towards her parents
22:52
Velasquez who seems to be peeping out of the darkness
22:55
realizing his time is up and the Manina
22:57
to the right of the infanta
22:59
who is beginning to curtsy
23:00
as she looks towards the couple
23:03
there is a palpable
23:04
sense of anticipation in the air
23:06
if the king and queen are there and I think they are
23:09
then Velasquez has one more trick up his sleeve
23:12
he has placed the king and queen
23:14
outside of the pictorial
23:15
space standing exactly where we
23:18
the commoners would stand when we view the paintings
23:21
we are standing right next to King Philipe IV
23:24
of Spain with this painting
23:30
Velasquez was out to prove that painting was a noble
23:33
intellectual art and Las menas
23:35
would be evidence it is in fact a portrait
23:38
about the painting of a
23:40
portrait let's start with the physicality
23:42
of the space the building was destroyed by fire in
23:46
1734 but the historical plan still exist
23:49
Las meninas was painted in the quto Del prpe
23:52
or the king's quarters
23:54
in the alkazar in Madrid
23:56
which is the room depicted in the work
23:58
it was once part of the apartment
24:00
occupied by the Crown Prince Don balazar
24:03
Carlos who had died
24:05
1646 once the painting was finished
24:07
it was planned to be placed in that same room
24:10
an inventory of the room proved that everything Velasquez
24:13
painted was really there apart from the mirror in the back
24:17
the illusion starts with the almost life-size
24:19
figures the painting is enormous
24:21
coming in at over 10 ft by 9 ft
24:25
the room had these wonderful
24:26
High ceilings and the shutters
24:28
have been placed by Velasquez
24:29
to reveal slivers of light
24:31
exactly where he wants it
24:33
the main light source is from an invisible window to the right
24:36
and another source is the door at the back that illuminates
24:39
the figure and sends a Pencil Thin beam
24:42
across the floor while Las menas
24:45
is clearly a royal painting
24:47
it stands out from other court paintings
24:49
because the piece was intended to hang in a private room
24:52
rather than displayed publicly
24:54
it may look formal to us nowadays
24:57
but compared to other Royal
24:58
portraits Las menas is fairly spontaneous
25:01
casual and relaxed there is a lot in this painting
25:05
people animals Reflections paintings on the wall
25:08
textures other objects and movement
25:11
and yet there is a cohesion to the canvas
25:14
because it is organized
25:15
in an orderly composition
25:17
it is balanced perfectly
25:19
with a relatively quiet top half against the busy bottom
25:22
half the figures occupy a clear horizontal
25:26
strip across the painting
25:27
but it isn't freezlike
25:28
as they are at different depths into the view
25:31
the first layer is the canvas
25:33
the dwarf and the
25:34
dog then we have the infanta
25:37
and her maids and then Velasquez
25:40
The Chaperone and The Bodyguard
25:42
the layering continues throughout the picture
25:45
and Beyond the frame
25:48
the painting features several frames
25:50
the frame of the room in which they are all standing
25:52
the frames of the paintings on the wall
25:54
the frame of the canvas Velasquez
25:56
is working on the frame
25:58
of the mirror and the frame of the door in the background
26:01
these frames provide a strong linear and geometric
26:04
theme to the painting
26:05
you get a feel of structure and
26:08
organization but a perfect perspective
26:10
is not essential to our
26:12
understanding of this painting
26:13
any more than a perfect
26:15
understanding of Optics what is the focal point
26:18
well there are several
26:19
possibilities just look at the picture as a whole and you notice your eye
26:23
scans around the canvas
26:25
as it would do in any large space
26:27
we ricochet from one figure
26:30
another possible Focus points are the man in the doorway
26:33
the infanta or the reflection of the king and queen
26:37
it seems at first glance that Velasquez
26:39
is drawing all our attention to the infanta
26:42
and he has used some clever and subtle techniques
26:45
to draw attention to her in such a busy scene
26:48
there is the dress of course but also she faces towards the main light
26:51
source coming from the right While most of the other figures are facing away
26:55
from the light Maria Augustina
26:58
is is looking directly
26:59
at her and the characters to the left nudge us towards
27:02
the infanta we do know that this painting was not intended to be on
27:06
public View and was really considered a private possession of the king
27:10
for an audience of one
27:12
which would suggest the focal point
27:14
is the reflection of the king
27:16
the focus is still highly debated
27:18
and always will be
27:20
but the vanishing point is not
27:22
it comes from joseo
27:24
as he stands in the
27:25
staircase more specifically the the crook of his arm is the exact vanishing
27:31
point this is the key
27:33
Velasquez's Mastery of Illusion
27:35
uses realism light and structure
27:37
to pull together the disperate
27:39
elements in an exquisitely
27:41
balanced painting it is an image so complex
27:45
that he could only have achieved it at this later stage of his life
27:48
with the extensive knowledge he has picked up from a lifetime of
27:55
painting the two paintings on the back wall are
27:58
important symbolically and represent
28:00
two oil paintings by Ruben
28:02
Velasquez's role model and show scenes
28:04
from ID's metamorphosis there is a good reason they are there if we remember
28:09
that Velasquez wants desperately to raise his profession
28:12
from Tradesmen to Artistic
28:14
nobility they tell the tale of the superiority
28:18
the nobility and the Divine calling of the artist
28:21
in which Mortals Pro themselves more skilled
28:24
than even the gods
28:25
rubben was the most influential
28:27
Flemish artist of the 17th
28:29
century so by linking himself with rubben
28:32
Velasquez is showing that he had reached the highest tier in European
28:38
art one of the great enigmas
28:41
in the portrait of Vasquez
28:42
is the Red Cross on his tunic
28:45
it is the heraldic
28:46
symbol of the order of Santiago
28:48
a religious and Military order founded in the 12th century
28:52
he had petitioned the king to make him a knight of Santiago
28:54
for years to secure Noble
28:57
status citing the link between artistic nobility
29:00
and social nobility but the committee of the order of Santiago
29:05
refused due to his bloodline
29:07
it was rumored that his grandparents
29:09
were Jewish converts luckily for Velasquez
29:12
as well as being employer
29:13
and employee he and Philip IV were close friends
29:17
and he was finally inducted
29:18
into the order in
29:19
1659 a year before his death
29:22
after the king obtained a dispensation
29:25
from the pope to overrule
29:26
doubts as to the artist
29:28
blood and trade Diego Velasquez
29:31
in many ways was
29:32
unremarkable apart from the fact he was appointed court painter
29:36
he had one wife
29:37
one Friend the King
29:39
and one Studio the
29:41
palace and spent his whole life climbing
29:44
the social ladder his Knighthood
29:46
is the culmination what makes this cross in the painting interesting
29:50
is that he was knighted
29:51
a full 3 years after
29:53
Las meninas was finished
29:55
and a year before he died
29:57
which means means that the cross was painted on the artist's
30:00
tunic years after the painting was created
30:03
tradition had it that after the artist
30:06
death Philipe IV himself
30:07
painted the Red Cross of the Knights of Santiago
30:10
on the tunic but that's
30:12
unlikely after the painting was cleaned in the early 1980s
30:16
it was revealed that the brush work of the Cross is uniform
30:19
with the rest of the surface
30:21
so it was almost certainly Velasquez
30:23
who painted the cross
30:25
we can only imagine the immense satisfaction
30:27
the AR is got from adding the cross to the painting
30:30
and therefore rubbing the snobby courtier's
30:33
noses in the fact that he was now one of
30:36
them Velasquez who was in essence born a trades person
30:40
died a wealthy Noble
30:42
on his death it is said that the King was heartbroken
30:46
and the great friendship
30:47
that had United them is evident
30:49
in three words that the Monarch wrote in a memorandum
30:52
after his death I am shaken
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