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"LAS MENINAS" by DIEGO VELAZQUEZ (1599-1660)
Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez
(According to Michael Atlee,
this is "The World's Best
Painting"!)
Analysis in progress Nov. 30,
2003
AS PAINTED -- cropped detail:
STEP 1. Exploratory lines.
STEP 1. The uncropped image is
shown below, together with my
first foray into the depths of
this masterpiece, wondering if
yet another Old Master artist
was a "cognoscenti" -- in on the
secret of the Grail Geometry. I
will leave it to the viewer to
decide. The geometry of this
painting speaks answers across
the centuries.
Diego Velazquez (white arrow)
presents his paint brush to us,
and says: "See?" And we have to
wonder how many have seen, over
more than three centuries, the
basis for the geometric
perfection of this composition.
STEP 1. (continued): Diego's
brush is presented at a
left-leaning, sixty (60) degree
angle to the horizontal
geometric reference lines of
this composition. Such
horizontal reference lines are
approximately ( but not always
exactly, in some of these
analyses) the same as the
horizontal edges of the image.
Now a 60 degree angled line
portends a possible Grail
Geometry composition -- so we
hopefully draw a line collinear
with the paintbrush. And there
it is (displaced slightly to the
right) --
the beginning of a huge
hexagram.
HUGE? Oh yes! This painting is
approximately 10 1/2 ft. by 9
1/2 ft. -- FEET not inches!
Consider the challenge of
employing a little paint brush
to cover about one hundred (100)
Square Feet (!) of canvas with a
masterly rendition of many
regally attired ladies and
gentlemen, including a noble dog
(and a few other hidden examples
of the devilish side of our
Diego).
A smaller image of my STEP 1
exploration is given below.
Note how Velazquez has divided
the canvas into equal quarters.
I have emphasized the exact
center with a small square
oriented as a diamond. Note how
the horizontal line through this
diamond runs tangent to the
image of the artist's head
(white arrow). Of more interest
is the fact that the vertical
line through this central
diamond runs precisely down
through the tip of the nose of
the little princess!
This is no coincidence -- and by
now, you don't need anyone to
tell you. I have circled a few
confirmatory features -- the
most important being that 60
degree paint brush that says
there's hexagonal geometry here!
But -- is the geometry the
full-fledged Grail Geometry? Was
Diego Velazquez a member of the
secret Priory of Sion society --
a membership that once counted
the great Leonardo da Vinci as
Grand Master? In answer to this
question, we may be able to use
our new-found geometric skills
at analyzing paintings to make
some educated guesses.
STEP 2. Devoted to Hexagrams.
Arthur C. Danto in "Disembodied
Meanings" says that Velazquez
sought to "dazzle and puzzle us
at once"; Michael Atlee in "LAS
MENINAS: The World's Best
Painting" (in Mark Harden's 'The
Artchive' website
http://artchive.com) says --
paraphrasing -- 'Las Meninas
beguiles the viewer, provoking
the question:
What's going on here?' My
answer to what's going on with
the dazzling and the puzzling
here is: GEOMETRY.
Until the availability of good
quality reproductions on the web
(e.g. the one I'm using from
'The Artchive'), together with
powerful geometric software
(e.g. the one I'm using: Adobe
Illustrator, together with
Photoshop) there was little
opportunity or incentive to
explore paintings for an
underlying skeleton -- a
geometric basis for the
composition. There's no denying
that Velazquez employed the
hexagram (three, so far) to
guide his hand in placing the
features of "Las Meninas". I
have been able to discover the
double hexagram below -- every
line of which is geometrically
determined by that paintbrush
thrust at the viewer as a
challenge: "See? I'm also a
geometer -- I'm
in the know."-
STEP 2. Assuming the paint
brush (white arrow pointing to
the ellipse) designates a line
of a different, smaller
hexagram, that line was drawn
exactly collinear
with the paintbrush (it was
necessary in STEP 1 to displace
the paint-brush line of the
"huge" hexagram). It turns out
that there are TWO hexagrams
that can be identified at this
stage of the game in STEP 2. To
those who have followed a few
other analyses here, the
procedure is self-explanatory
now -- by inspection. The
exhibit above says it all --
or at least most of it. An
astounding tour de force with
the head of little Princess
Margarita in a central position
-- BUT -- sharing it with the
dwarf somewhat "upstage right",
and that wonderful, noble
canine upstaging them all! Arthur Danto makes much of Velazquez' "marvelous dogs", saying,
"One has a sense that everything
[in Velazquez] means something
awesome, which intensifies the
pleasure one takes in this
tremendous painter we know we
will never fully understand."
True -- and I note that in "Meninas"
the dog's head is very
definitely tied to a node in the
geometry -- as is his tail end!
The representation of the two
hexagrams and their diagonals,
circumscribing circles, and
various extensions to circled
features (above) is suggestive
to me of a spider web (and it
brings back the recognition of
Vermeer's "The Lacemaker" -- the
first analysis in this SPIDER
WEB series.) Now just about any
artist knows about hexagrams --
but not every artist in the
seventeenth century knew the
secrets of the Priory of Sion
nor their secret Grail Geometry.
We haven't seen yet in
Velazquez the signature
combination of the Tilted
Triangle and its associated
Tilted Square whose diagonals
intersect on an important
feature that often (not always)
conveys the suggestion of the
legend of the burial of "The
Holy Grail" (whatever that might
be) on a mountain side in
southern France (not so far from
the Franco-Spanish border!).
STEP 3. Searching for the Square
STEP 3. It would be remarkable
enough to assert that Velazquez
started with huge layout sheets
carrying the outlines of the
three hexagrams identified
above. But "Las Meninas" isn't
merely a remarkable masterpiece
of artistic-geometric
draftsmanship. It is an
astounding tour de force that
ALSO conformed to at least two
more patterns -- two (2) Grail
Geometry
Tilted-Equilateral-Triangle/Tilted
Square patterns merging
seamlessly with the other three
(3) hexagrams -- yielding a
stunning, virtuoso example of
Diego's theme: "Look what I can
do with my paintbrush -- see?"
Yes, we start seeing below -- by taking very seriously the
(dashed) line presented by the
paint brush, and displacing it
to the right (another dashed
line) to go precisely through
the tip of the nose of the
little Princess Margarita!
The objective is to establish
"The Northwest Point" from which
will radiate a fan of lines
displaced successively from one
another by fifteen (15) degrees.
Why 15 degrees? -- because The
Grail Geometry is a hexagonal
geometry employing combinations
of angles 7.5, 15, 30, 45, 60,
75, 90 degrees, and multiples
thereof. The image below
exhibits just such an
exploratory fan of lines (I've
included 7.5 degree lines). Now
it's true that anyone can draw a
fan of lines on any painting --
and it's likely that a few lines
will hit this or that by
coincidence.
STEP 3 (continued). There's no coincidence here, though! How can I be so sure? Well,
a remarkable circumstance
emerged -- it turns out that,
like his successor countryman
Goya, Velazquez left at least
two (2) registration markers
showing! I have circled them
and labeled them "MARKER" (see
above).
There are more than a few
features that fall on these
lines -- I have not labeled nor
circled them yet; the sharp-eyed
critic may inspect the exhibit
above to note these
confirmations. Indeed, there is
possibly a third marker (by that
I mean a painted feature that
contributes little or nothing to
the composition other than to
facilitate the repeated
registration of layout sheets
for retransferring the
painted-over geometry to the
canvas. A possible technique
would be the well-known "pounce"
method, where powdered chalk
dust is applied to the canvas
through pin holes located in the
layout sheet). This third
marker is on the artist's left
sleeve -- where one of the fan
lines goes exactly through it --
and the painter's left eye!
We're not dealing with
coincidental here, my friends.
Two of the exploratory fan of
lines clip the bottom of each
marker as shown above.
Encouraging -- but better yet
-- an educated guess led me to
attempt to complete a tilted
equilateral triangle by drawing
a line through the two lower
tips of each marker. BINGO!
That conjectural (bold) line
completed a tilted equilateral
triangle whose sides are made
bold and labeled "T". This
triangle is tilted down 15
degrees from one of the fan
lines labeled "H". I have
sketched in parts of the square
associated with this fan -- a
square which must be tilted down
15 degrees to obey the rule of
The Grail Geometry, There will
be no problem doing this -- and
no problem drawing the diagonals
of that exploratory square. BUT
-- will the intersection of
those exploratory diagonals fall
on a significant feature painted
there purposely? And will this
exploratory "X marks the Spot"
convey some arcane and esoteric
message? We can see about all
that in the next step.
STEP 4. The Grail Geometry (GG) Revisited
STEP 4. The diagram below is
copied from "The Grail Geometry"
section of this website in order
that we may correlate the
labeling of the geometric
exploration of "Las Meninas"
with this standard
representation. (Please note --
the basic 3 by 3 grid portion in
the diagram below should have
its corners labeled A--J--K--L.
The K and the L are missing
from the diagram below, but they
do appear in the STEP 4 analysis
further below)
STEP 4 (continued). Full GG pattern in registration with two
markers:
The fan of lines developed on
STEP 3 has given rise to a full
Grail Geometry (GG) pattern --
but with the guess that the
Tilted Equilateral Triangle
(labeled A-V1-V2) is completed
with a line that clips both
"MARKERS" as shown below. This
was my best guess. Once the
decision has been made on how to
complete the triangle, it is a
straightforward procedure,
following the rules of "GG", to
draw the associated Hexagram,
the associated Tilted Square,
and the all-important diagonals
of the square to yield the "PX"
-- the "X marks the Spot" --
dear to the hearts of the
treasure- seeking gold diggers.
Note -- I have marked the
seminal paint brush line with a
"P", and the line parallel to it
(through the tip of the
princess' nose) with a "P*".
Both are dashed lines, labeled
at the bottom.
I have done all that below --
and I find some substantial
confirmation. The discerning
viewer will recognize that the
hand of the master was guided by
this pattern (among others!). I
have noted with exclamation
points [!] two remarkably
unexpected confirmations -- the
left edge of the image seems to
have been dictated by, in the
case at the top, the
intersection of the dashed line
from the paint brush with the
circumscribing circle of the
hexagram. In the lower one
marked [!], the lower corner
(also labeled "L") of the basic
untilted
square also seems to have
dictated the approximate
terminus of the left edge of the
image. Of course we are dealing
with a huge canvas, about 350
years old, whose image has no
doubt been cropped so that the
painter's edge remains
indeterminate. Yet this is a
further confirmation to my mind.
However
-- I am not yet satisfied --
because the "PX" -- the "X marks
the Spot" (emphasized above with
a little square) falls not on a
feature of suggestive mystery,
but simply on the forehead of
one of the solicitous "meninas"
(ladies-in-waiting) as shown
above. Maybe this is all that
Velazquez was aiming for -- but
maybe not!
Hmmm . . . what's that object
being proffered to the little
princess? I have surrounded it
with a square labeled "?" Since
it falls on the diagonal A--N,
it will be interesting to draw
the square whose diagonals will
fall exactly there. Will such a
square convince us that
Velazquez prepared it in advance
for this painting? And what can
be the significance of the
object jointly held at "X marks
the Spot"? We must pursue this
in STEP 5!
STEP 5. Force the "PX" on that strange object to see what's what!
STEP 5. I followed my hunch --
and look at what resulted!
Diego Velazquez has presented
us with a textbook case of
composing an Old Master
masterpiece in perfect adherence
to the Grail Geometry!
(Actually, I could have said
that at STEP 4 -- but the STEP 5
exhibit, below, is even
better). For the "X marks the
Spot" -- where the diagonals of
the Tilted Square A-M-N-O
intersect -- I circled that spot
twice, in white and in
dashed-line red, and I labeled
it "PX". I removed the lines
within the red circle for
clarity, because whatever it is
in there, we'll have to discuss.
But for now, I'll say a bit on
how I came up with the exhibit
below.
The fan of lines emanating from
"A" (PNW -- the Northwest Point)
are identical with those of STEP
4. But the basic tilted
equilateral triangle is bigger.
It is labeled A--V1--V2, and I
chose the position of the third
side V1--V2 so that the tilted
square resulting from this
triangle (obeying the GG rules)
has line M--O for one diagonal,
perpendicular to the other
diagonal, line A--N, the same
fan line that goes through the
diamond in STEP 4. A--N and
M--O are the diagonals made to
intersect on the curious red
object that the "menina" on the
left seems to be handing to the
princess. Once the diagonals
are chosen, it is a straight
forward geometric exercise to
complete the appropriate square
that goes with them, obeying the
GG rules, so that the Tilted
Square A--M--N--O is the correct
one for the Tilted Equilateral
Triangle A--V1--V2.
Well and good, you may say, but
how do we know Velazquez
actually
used
that pattern in composing "Las
Meninas"? We are completely
confident of it, because of the
many features of the painting
that conform exactly to the "GG"
superimposed. But let's start
with that thundering hint -- the
paintbrush.
That
paintbrush line has governed
every other line of the GG in
this analysis. It established
the "Northwest Point" using the
little princess's nose and the
Marker on the right of the
picture. (I must keep reminding
the reader that it was the
pattern that established the
location of the painted features
at the creation. Working
backwards, it is all to easy to
talk as if I'm using the
features to create the
geometry.) I have circled a few
features that were positioned
right on some of the fan lines
-- and there are many more for
your inspection. To facilitate
our discussion, I will present
an amplified cropped image
below:
Is it not remarkable to
contemplate the symmetric
interplay between the paintbrush
line(dashed) and the marker line
(dashed) on the left portion of
the image? Look at how Velazquez
positioned his face -- one fan
line goes through his right eye
(lines through eyes is a
favorite with the GG masters);
and although it is hard to see
on this image, there is a "red
cross of the Order of Santiago
(St. James)" painted on
Velazquez' chest. It runs
parallel with the marker line!
The story is that King Felipe of
Spain painted that after the
death of our Diego. If so, the
king must have been one of the
"cognoscenti".
I myself was amazed to see the
fan lines, when drawn at the
various angles referenced to the
paintbrush line, hit certain
features so precisely. Look at
the dwarfs hand (circled) --
look at the other circles --
including the big one around the
"apple" held by both the menina
and the princess. But look
closely and ask yourself if it's
an apple. We may be sure Diego
could paint a convincing apple .
. . if he wanted to. So why
does what's in the circle look
like the red head of a goose
with a mop cap on? Like
Vermeer, like Goya, like El
Greco and who knows how many
other artists of ancient days --
Diego Velazquez grew bored with
just straight painting, and he
amused himself with making
everything dual. There is more
in "Las Meninas" ("the world's
best painting") than meets the
careless, hasty eye.
Not for the hasty eye: Look
closely at the face of the "menina"
on the right. Good heavens! Is
that a MASK? And what about her
"hair"? What's on her sleeve?
What about her whole
light-colored over-dress -- is
that an EYE on the front?? Look
closely at the "menina" on the
left -- what's that on her
bosom?? Doll fin on porpoise?
What's on the back of her head?
It's only the artist's palette!
Oh . . . What about the
darling little girl, extreme
stage right --with her little
slipper on the dog's back (is it
just a dog's rear end? Dead
rabbit? -- no way, ho zay!).
What is she gingerly,
tentatively doing with her right
hand? What does she see on the
dwarf's sleeve? Is she afraid
that the lamb might bite her?!
What? NOT a lamb?? Not
another skull, I hope . . . animal skull or not: Et Cetera!
GET THE PICTURE?
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