Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez

This painting was completed in 1656 by Diego Velázquez, Spanish court painter.  It is considered to be one of the very best paintings in the world.  It can be seen in the Prado art museum in Madrid, Spain.

The subject of the painting is the royal family of the Hapsburg King, Felipe IV.  “Las Meninas” is a Portuguese word that means “ladies in waiting”.  Several personages can be seen in the painting.  To the left and in the foreground is the painter, Diego Velázquez, who is painting the King of Spain, Felipe IV and the Queen Mariana of Austria at whom the painter is gazing and who are witnesses to the scene (as are we) as it is presented on the finished canvas.  Also in the foreground, and in the center of the composition, is the Princess Margarita who is accompanied by the two Meninas, or ladies in waiting.  To the right are two dwarves who are playing with a dog.  Velázquez has strategically surrounded the lovely Princess with ordinary and somewhat grotesque figures, accentuating the beauty of the Princess for the benefit of the royal couple, his patrons.  Behind them to the right is a lady dressed in nun’s habit, and a gentleman.  To the rear of the gentleman one can see the profile of a man who seems to be leaving from the room through an open door and through which light filters into the room.

The scene on canvas takes place in a room inside the Alcázar of Madrid.  The Alcázar burned in a fire in 1734.  Several paintings are displayed on the walls of the room.  The “meninas” or ladies in waiting, are Isabel Velazco and Agustina Sarmiento.  Standing closest to Agustina Sarmiento to the right are the dwarves, María Barbola and Nicolás Pertusato.  Behind them in the darkness are doña Marcela de Ulloa and an unidentified caballero.  In the background, through the doorway, we catch a glimpse of the Queen’s quartermaster, don José Nieto de Velázquez, who is in the perspective center of the painting.

The painter has just stepped out from behind the canvas to study the royal models.  In order for him to paint himself, he also would have had to view himself through a mirror, probably placed next to the royal couple out front.   The dwarf at the right has her hand on her breast and seems also to be looking at the royals.  Behind them is the unidentified courtier with his hands clasped and who is also looking forward and toward the royal presence.  The two meninas are attending the Princess who is bathed in white light.  She, also, seems to be looking out toward the visitors, or models in the room.

On the back wall of the studio hangs a mirror.  All of the other objects on the wall are canvases of other works.  The only item that appears different, does so because it is a mirror.  It has bright edges and colors that contrast with the dark and unlighted paintings nearby.  In the mirror, reflected, can be seen two persons:  the father and mother of the Princess; King Felipe IV and Queen Mariana. They are the subjects whom Velázquez is painting onto the canvas and at whom he is staring while he paints them.

It is said that there are three perspectives presented in this composition:  (1) the King and the Queen who are looking at this scene as they are being painted by Velázquez, (2) the painter who has painted himself into the composition and who has been a witness to the scene, recording it for posterity, (3) and the public, and other spectators who are involved in the scene within the painting, and like us, are looking at the finished painting.

Careful analysis centuries later has revealed that if one looks at the lines of perspective, the image contained in the mirror is not a direct reflection of the real figures of the royal couple as models.  Perspective actually requires the mirror to reflect what is on the canvas.  It is believed that if one looks carefully at the representation of the mirror, it has the tone of a formal portrait.  The image there is grainy and indistinct, rather than a sharp, clear reflection.  If this is true, then the mirror is actually reflecting what is depicted on the canvas, and not the models in the room directly.  There exists for the public to view, a painting within a painting and it is visible only through the mirror image.  The King and Queen as models, can only see their painted representation as it reflects in the mirror.  The mirror, then, is an illusion.  It does not reflect the reality of the King and Queen, but rather the painting of them as interpreted by Velázquez.  Just as in Cervante’s Don Quixote, illusion and reality become confused.

In the 1970’s, this painting hung by itself in a smaller salon of the Prado Museum.  It is a large painting and it was hung in one corner of the room facing its opposite corner.  In the other corner hung a large mirror of equal proportion to the painting.  In front of the mirror was a strategically-placed bench from where the public could view the painting.  The intent was for the public to view the painting, not directly, but rather as a reflection through the mirror.  In doing so, the painting took on a perspective of depth, similar to 3-D.  Velázquez accomplished this by contrasting dark and light colors, alternating from back to front.  For example, the opened door in the rear introduces bright light into a darkened room, the center of the room is dark, and the front of the room nearest the subject is again bathed in white light into which the Princess is standing.  Depth is produced using this technique.

It is said that the King liked this painting so much, that he took up the brush and painted onto the chest of the painter a red cross symbolizing the Order of Santiago, an order to which only the greatest of Spanish subjects were ever inducted.

Things are rarely what they appear to be a first glance.