Las Meninas

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Las Meninas (Diego Velazquez)
Las Meninas
Diego Velázquez , 1656
Oil on canvas
318 × 276 cm
Museo del Prado

Las Meninas ("The Maid of Honor") is a painting by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez . The 3.18 x 2.76 meter painting was created in 1656 and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid .

Las Meninas shows a large room in the Alcázar of Madrid, the main residence of King Philip IV of Spain . Several, mostly clearly identifiable persons from the Spanish court can be seen. The focus is on the five-year-old king's daughter Margarita, surrounded by a maid of honor, a guard, two so-called court dwarfs and a dog. To their left stands Velázquez, who is currently working on a large screen and directing his gaze towards the viewer. A mirror hangs in the background and reflects the upper bodies of the king and queen. The royal couple appear to be standing outside the depicted room and, like the viewer of the painting, to look at the depicted people. However, according to some art historians, the mirror merely reflects the painting Velázquez is currently working on.

Las Meninas is one of the most discussed paintings in art history. The baroque painter Luca Giordano claimed that the painting represented the "theology of painting". In the 19th century, the painter Thomas Lawrence called it a work on the "philosophy of art". To this day, it has been repeatedly described as Velázquez's most significant painting and is considered a confident, thoughtful reflection on what a painting can represent.

Background: Diego Velázquez at the Spanish court

Infanta Margarita in mourning clothes after the death of her father, Juan del Mazo , 1666. In the background of the painting are her younger brother, Charles II , and Maria Bárbola, also depicted on Las Meninas

For the analysis of the picture it is important to know what role painting played in Spain in the 17th century and what role Diego Velázquez played at the Spanish court.

In 17th century Spain painting was considered a craft rather than an art such as poetry or music. Painter's profession was considered so ignoble that before Velázquez was accepted into the Order of the Knights of Santiago, a hundred witnesses had to confirm that Velázquez never painted for the sake of money, but only to please King Philip IV . Diego Velázquez, who came from Seville , had initially served as court painter at the Spanish royal court and also took on several small court posts that gave him enough time to paint. Between 1640 and 1650 he held the position of curator for the royal court. In this role he was responsible for acquiring paintings, managing them and furnishing the individual royal residences with them. A large number of the paintings in the Prado today - including those by Titian , Raphael and Rubens - were acquired during the time that Diego Velázquez was the curator.

In February 1651 Velázquez was appointed palace marshal ( aposentador mayor del palacio ). This office brought him respect and a relatively high salary. The extensive tasks, which, in addition to the procurement of wood and coal for the royal court and the supervision of the cleaning staff, also included the function of a quartermaster for the court's trips, demanded much more time. Only a few paintings were made in the last eight years of his life. Mostly these are portraits of the royal family. At the beginning of the 1650s, Philip IV had Diego Velázquez assigned the Pieza Principal ('main room') of the living quarters of the late Prince Baltasar Carlos, which from then on served the painter as a studio. It is this room that Las Meninas shows. Despite the strict court etiquette, there was a close bond between Philip IV and Velázquez. A chair was ready for Philip IV in the former Pieza Principal, and the Spanish king often came to the studio to watch Velázquez at work. The visit of the Spanish royal couple, which Diego Velázquez suggests, is nothing unusual against this background.

The paintings

The people shown.
1: Infanta Margarita; 2: Isabel de Velasco; 3: María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor; 4: Mari Bárbola;
5: Nicolas Pertusato; 6: Marcela de Ulloa; 7: guard; 8: José Nieto;
9: Diego Velázquez; 10 and 11: the Spanish royal couple
The stairs in the background, detail of the painting
Diego Velázquez, detail

The first detailed description of Las Meninas , which has influenced the perception and reception history of the work to this day, dates back to 1724 and goes back to the Spanish painter and art theorist Antonio Palomino . It is to him that she also owes the identification of all persons depicted in the picture as well as the exact date and place of completion: According to Palomino, the scene shows a room in the old Alcázar in Madrid and is a portrait of the young Infanta Margarita.

The room is Velázquez's studio, which was assigned to him on the instructions of Philip IV. The focus is brightly lit on five-year-old Infanta, the youngest daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and his wife Maria Anna . Philip IV's first wife, Isabella von Bourbon , had died in 1644. Baltasar Carlos , the only son from this connection, only lived until 1646. The Spanish court thus lacked an heir to the throne. Philip IV therefore married his niece Maria Anna of Austria in 1649, who was originally betrothed to the deceased heir to the throne. Infanta Margarita, born in 1651, was the first and, at the time the painting was made, the only child in this seven-year marriage. Queen Maria Anna became pregnant repeatedly afterwards, but until 1656 had only given birth to stillbirths. For the royal couple, the Infanta Margarita represented the hope that a healthy heir to the throne would follow. In the painting, the richly dressed Infanta Margarita has turned her gaze to the viewer while at the same time reaching for a clay jug or bucaro , which the kneeling lady-in-waiting María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor hands her on a tray. The second lady-in-waiting, Isabel de Velasco, stands to the right of the Infanta and is shown in a slightly curtseying posture. Part of the cumbersome, formalistic court ceremony is thus represented. Few people have the privilege of handing anything to members of the royal family and when they do so one of their knees has to touch the ground.

In the foreground are a lying Spanish mastiff and two small stature, so-called court dwarfs : Maria Bárbola from Germany and the Italian Nicolasito Pertusato, who playfully tries to wake up the sleeping dog with his foot. In the half-shaded background stands the lady of honor Marcela de Ulloa, who is shown in mourning clothing and speaks to an unidentified guardian ( guardadamas ).

On the steps of a staircase, Court Marshal José Nieto, wearing a coat and hat in his left hand, looks through an open door into the room. Most research sources today regard José Nieto as royal advisor. According to court etiquette, he had to be available to the royal majesty - also to open doors, for example. From his posture - his right knee bent, his feet on two different steps - it cannot be concluded whether he is leaving the room or whether he will enter it. José Nieto seems to be pushing aside a curtain in front of the short, brightly lit staircase. Both this small, bright section of the picture and the staircase leading out of the room give the painting depth. The perspective vanishing point is also here, which reinforces this impression.

José Nieto's appearance is considered an indication that the Spanish royal couple is actually present. To the left of the court marshal, Palomino identified a mirror in which the royal couple is reflected. It only shows the upper bodies of the royal couple. What is the source of the reflection remains open: the painting Velázquez is currently working on or the royal couple present.

Finally, in the middle ground on the left, Diego Velázquez depicted himself. He looks past the screen in the direction of the viewer. The symbolic keys of his court offices hang on his belt. He wears the Cross of the Order of Santiago on his doublet . It was not until 1659, three years after the completion of Las Meninas, that Diego Velázquez was accepted into this order of aristocrats. He needed a special permit because he could not fully prove his noble ancestry, and witnesses who confirmed that he did not practice painting as a craft. According to Palomino, after the death of Velázquez, Philip IV ordered that the cross of this order be painted on the doublet, and Palomino even pointed out that according to some, Philip IV added the cross with his own hand.

Palomino's information on the image personnel is indisputable within art history. He also makes initial statements about the paintings hanging in the background. Today there is consensus that these are paintings by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo after Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens .

In addition to Palomino's description, further observations followed. The arrangement of the figures is particularly striking, their heads and hands moving in curved waves, while the space itself is stabilized by horizontal and vertical lines. Every figure in the court family has the appropriate gesture, which is classified in a ranking of gestures and leads to a system of rules that obey the maxim that the higher their social status, the less a person moves. The art historian Victor Stoichiţă has pointed out that the figural compression decreases with the background of the picture. A contrast arises between the “natural body” (dog, the two court dwarfs) and “spiritual body” (royal couple on the mirror surface). The division of the image by the horizontal central axis is even more obvious. All figures are placed below this central line. Stoichita also gives hints on likely models for Velázquez's composition. The picture of the Arnolfini wedding by Jan van Eyck , which introduces the mirror theme, and David Teniers' painting Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his picture gallery in Brussels are possible suggestions. Both pictures were in the royal collection at the time and were known to Velázquez.

The main points of view

One of the main characteristics of the painting is its "puzzling character", which leads to new interpretations. There is already disagreement about the action depicted and the genre to which the picture can be assigned. Las Meninas was understood as a portrait of the Infanta, a Velázquez self-portrait, a group portrait, a court family portrait, a genre picture and a capriccio .

Las Meninas , geometric scheme

The consensus is that the image has three main gaze centers:

1. the Infanta, who through her central position in the picture and the special emphasis in the light focus also attracts the attention of other figures;
2. the painter, whose head towers over all the other figures in the painting;
3. The royal couple, who appear as a reflection in the rectangular area on the wall in the background, interpreted as a mirror.

Due to the reflection and the fact that most of the figures in the depiction look out of the picture, research also distinguishes non-pictorial points of view, i.e. a focus on which the depicted figures direct their gaze. The following are listed:

1. the royal couple looked at by the picture staff;
2. the viewer or author of the picture;
3. The image personnel themselves, looking at themselves in a large mirrored area.

The question of what the painter paints on his canvas, of which the viewer only sees the reverse side, is discussed and unresolved. Here, too, three assumptions are made:

1. the painter paints the royal couple who are at the invisible opposite pole of the room;
2. the painter paints the Infanta;
3. Las Meninas is painted itself.

Due to its ambiguity, Las Meninas is also referred to as a meta-image, because it constantly thematizes its own representation, questions the meaning of interpretation in general and reflects on the limits and possibilities of representation and observation.

Theses on visual language

"The Meninas are the visible image of the invisible thought of Velasquez."

- René Magritte : letter to Michel Foucault dated May 23, 1966.

The mirror

Las Meninas , detail

A large number of allegations and speculations have been made about the significance of the mirror in the background on which the royal couple can be seen. It was doubted that the object on the wall was even a mirror. The contradiction was based on the fact that the portrait was in reality a painting. Most of the performers in Las Meninas today, however, believe that the king's portrait is a mirror image. On the other hand, there is uncertainty about the source of the reflection.

The double portrait is neither a painted picture nor a direct reflection of real people. Rather, it reflects a section of the canvas in the picture, claims Victor Stoichita. It was completely atypical to portray the sovereign en buste , which is reserved for the domain of the private portrait. The king, however, always claims the full portrait. It was Velázquez's ingenious play of perspectives that turned the royal portrait into a half-portrait with all its implications.

Diego Velázquez; Christ in the House of Mary and Martha , 1618 ( National Gallery , London)

This thesis fits the calculations of John F. Moffits. The art historian had measured the supposed location of the depiction and was able to demonstrate with a series of geometric statements that the mirror in the background must reflect the front of the canvas depicted in Las Meninas , which clearly proves what the painter is painting. However, the non-existence of a double portrait of the royal couple speaks against this assumption. Such is not known from the work of Velázquez.

Velázquez had already confused the viewer with an ambiguous image composition. In his painting Christ in the House of Maria and Martha from 1618, the background scene that describes the subject of the picture was received differently by the art-historical reception. The representation of Christ was interpreted as a mirror reflection, as a picture hanging on the wall and as a direct view through a wall opening.

The ennobling thesis

Towards the end of the 1970s, Jonathan Brown opened up a new way of interpreting the art-historical view of the painting with a socio-historical analysis of Las Meninas . According to his thesis, Las Meninas is a treatise disguised as a painting that deals with the ennoblement of the painter and the establishment of painting as one of the artes liberales .

In contrast to Italy in the middle of the 17th century, the art of painting in Spain was still regarded as a mere handicraft similar to craft and thus equated with tailoring or shoemaking. Corresponding taxes and duties were levied on such manual activities, against which many a painter went to court in order to promote the recognition of painting as art. Velázquez was also affected by the levy, although he had already achieved a high social position as a court painter. Velázquez must have perceived this, according to Brown's account, as a degradation, against which he set the ambition to force his rise at court and crown it with the dignity of knight. Velázquez's struggle for admission to the Order of Saint Santiago lasted ten years, which, although sponsored and launched by the king, was repeatedly rejected by the resistance of the nobility. It was not until 1659, a few months before his death, that the painter achieved the nobility he had longed for.

Jan van Eyck: The Arnolfini wedding , 1434

Against this background, Jonathan Brown now sees the "immediate reason for the creation of Las Meninas ". The image does not only stand for the ennoblement of free art as such, which as a form of knowledge goes far beyond the craft, but is to be understood as a kind of personal solicitation of Velázquez's favor and recognition. Las Meninas was therefore composed and used by Velázquez as a strategic image. The rank of the painter and his work would accordingly be proven by the presence of the monarch.

The reasoning is based on the assumption that an art promoted by the sovereign must already be an exquisite art through the mere interest of the king, so that the very presence of the majesty adolescents art as such. Brown tries to prove that a close relationship between King Philip IV and Velázquez actually existed, and cites sources that prove the friendship between the king and painter. This includes the reference that Philip IV had a key to Velázquez's studio and visited him there almost every day.

The close, as it were symbiotic relationship between painter and king, which supports such a connection, is shown in several places in Velázquez's painting and vouches for the high status of the art of painting. It is believed that King Philip IV knew the purpose of the painting. This is the only way to explain why, contrary to royal etiquette, he was presented in a studio-like setting. The subsequent addition of the Santiago cross on Velázquez's chest was also due to the monarch. In addition, the master key , which can still be recognized by Velázquez's belt, identifies the court painter as the official who, as the king's aposentador, had access to the royal private chambers . In addition to its function as an official sign, the key also confirms the special relationship between the king and painter.

Jan van Eyck: The Arnolfini wedding , detail

Brown's thesis received support and clarification on a central point. Brown had argued that Velázquez's design was deliberately intricate in perspective. After all, the mastery and application of perspective were considered the highest discipline and were not dissimilar to Artes liberales arithmetic and geometry in this. "Perspective became [...] the guarantor of the art of painting as ars liberalis, and this is possibly the reason why Velázquez left us as his artistic manifesto one of the most brilliantly perspective paintings there are."

The 1983 article by John F. Moffitt follows on from this aspect, in which it was possible to check plausibility using historical floor plans that the entire space depicted in Las Meninas was a reproduction of a space that actually existed at the time, which was already described by Antonio Palomino in his description from 1724 was mentioned. It is said to be an elongated prince's chamber measuring 20.4 m × 5.36 m × 4.4 m in the southwest section of the Alcázar, the royal palace in Madrid. Velázquez chose this place for his painting because he himself was one of the architects, which shows that he belongs to the Artes Liberales.

Las Meninas : top view and elevation according to John F. Moffitt

A comparison between Moffitt's spatial reconstruction and Velázquez's painting shows that the perspective of the spatial representation is so correct that it comes close to the accuracy of a photograph. In order to guarantee such a realistic depiction, the painter must have used a technical aid. Moffitt suspects that Velázquez used a modernized form of the thread grid common in the High Renaissance, or a camera obscura , which is believed to have also used Velázquez's contemporary Jan Vermeer . In Las Meninas the exactness of the scientific perspective is spread out for demonstration purposes. Corresponding to this view is that the artist does not show himself in the act of painting, but rather in "an aristocratic pose and underlining his immediate proximity to royalty".

Brown's analyzes are cited by art scholars today both as a fundamental approach to the interpretation of Las Meninas , and are also contested on many points, since his interpretation no longer adequately reflects the connection between analysis and image content. Another point of criticism can be found in the assumption that Velázquez himself did not see the assumed difference between painting and handicraft, as he emphasized the skill of the handicraft in other paintings.

The representation thesis

In his book The Order of Things from 1966 (German 1971), the French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault examines the transformation process of the control systems of scientific discourse . He describes the transition from the Renaissance through the Baroque and Classical era to the modern age . The different historical stages are characterized by types of discursive formations of the knowledge order, which Foucault calls episteme . In the Renaissance, the formation dominating the discourse was that of "similarity". In the classical age, scientific thinking is then determined by “representation”, while in the modern age it is ultimately occupied by the principle of “people”. According to Foucault's thesis, knowledge is not the product of rational subject calculations , but is derived from the discourse structures that always precede the thinking subject.

Foucault Velázquez's painting Las Meninas serves as an expression of the worldview of representation , the analysis of which he places at the beginning of his book. Foucault assumes that it was not (yet) possible for Velázquez, due to his cultural-historical and socio-historical conditioning , to depict the episteme of man and its derivation, the subject. Because the baroque painter was still attached to the system of order of representation, his painting only illustrates pure representation and thus the absence of the subject. In this sense, Las Meninas aims to portray an “essential emptiness”, an unoccupied position to which reference is made in the picture, but which must be thought of outside the picture.

David Teniers the Younger: Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his picture gallery in Brussels , 1651 ( Prado , Madrid)

At the beginning of Foucault's analysis there is a consideration of the painter. He looks at the model, which remains hidden from the viewer, i.e. the viewer. A “dominant line” manifests itself between the painter on the canvas and the viewer in front of it, connecting the space represented with its opposite pole, the space in which the viewer is located. Other lines of the picture also refer to a point outside of what is shown. For example, the mirror in the background, which does not take in the room surroundings, but reflects the royal couple, which Foucault accepts as the painter's model and which is also located in the viewing room, which is intended to be an extension of the picture. Although Las Meninas is about representation and has a number of classic instruments of representation, such as the canvas, the hanging pictures, the mirror and the light from the windows, the subject of the representation itself remains invisible. Foucault now occupies this omission, which has to find its reality outside the canvas, in three ways with elementary constituents of representation: with the model (ruler), the viewer (viewer) and the author (Velázquez). They would all be in one position in front of the screen, at an “ideal point” from which they would be projected back into the interior of the picture. The ruler in the mirror, the viewer in the figure of José Nieto and the author in the painter's self-portrait.

In Las Meninas the Infanta wears the parting on the left.

The monarchs visible in the mirror formed the center of the depicted scenery. Although they were the most fragile, neglected and not looked at by anyone in the representation, they ordered the entire representation. The power of the sovereign thus penetrates more strongly into the center of representation the less he belongs to the picture itself. It is precisely his absence that structures the entire drama, advocating the origin, although he can only gain access through imaginary lines.

Foucault's interpretation understands Las Meninas as a meta-image , as a reflection on representation, the structure of which is self-referential because it persists in the “representation of classical representation” and remains attached to the representation of mere representation. Foucault's analysis had great influence in art history and was valued for its elaborate form and sophistication. However, newer texts also show errors, such as the setting of ruler and viewer in one, who actually have different vanishing points. In addition, it is predominantly assumed that the mirror does not reflect the royal couple in the room, but the painter's canvas, which in turn has a royal double portrait as its subject.

The reflection thesis

Diego Velázquez: Portrait of the Infanta Margarita , 1659; the parting is on the right here.

An outsider position within the research on Las Meninas takes the thesis that the entire design is the representation of a large mirror surface. In truth, the image personnel do not look out of the picture, but into a mirror and see their own reflection. The thesis was expressed in 1981 by Hermann Ulrich Asemissen. Only this thesis in the mirror could plausibly explain how Velázquez could see and paint his models from the front, even though he was standing behind them in the picture. Asemissen tries to prove that the figures and space are shown reversed. In this context it was pointed out that in later portraits of Velázquez the Infanta wore the parting on the other side. What speaks against the thesis, however, is that the lateral reversal, should it have occurred, was not carried out consistently. The mirror image showed the painter to be left-handed. In addition, the reproductions of the paintings on the rear wall of the room are not mirror-inverted.

The previous image thesis

The chief curator for Spanish painting of the 18th century at the Museo del Prado, Manuela B. Mena Marqués, gave new impetus to research in 1997 with an equally spectacular and controversial thesis on Las Meninas . On the basis of her restoration report from 1984 and by concentrating on many detailed areas of the painting, based on radiographic examinations, she argued that the present picture had a previous picture by Velázquez. That was later reworked by partial overpainting to the shape of Las Meninas known today . Only the inclusion of this predecessor image, which is independent in its conception, makes Las Meninas understandable and its contradictions plausible.

Originally Velázquez presented an allegory of loyalty and obedience to the monarch and Margarita. This thesis is identified emblematically by the figure of Maria Bárbola, who is holding a ring between her fingers. In combination with the dog, this is a typical expression of such allegorical representations. The Mazo copies on the back wall of the room are also to be understood as allegories of the power and authority of the king and heir to the throne. A commitment of loyalty arises from the specific situation at the Spanish court. Because there was no male heir and the Habsburg dynasty in Spain was threatened with extinction, thought was given to appointing Infanta Margarita as heir to the Spanish crown. Las Meninas was carried out as a "manifesto" in this sense; as a publication of the royal intention to hand over the line of succession to a woman. Last but not least, its size speaks for the public purpose of the painting.

The left side of the painting was severely cropped. The image of the king in the mirror originally lay in the center of the central axis of the image and was a correspondence of the political-thematic meaning. In contrast, neither the canvas nor Velázquez himself were part of the picture in the previous representation. In place of the painter, there was once another figure (perhaps a young page) who can be detected on x-rays of the picture. A red velvet curtain has also disappeared, a symbol of the sovereign's authority that has been guaranteed since ancient times.

According to Mena Marqués, the entire design stood for pomp and tradition. As an “allegory of the monarchy” and “defense of little Margarita as heir to the throne”, the depiction was ultimately a “warning and categorical command to be faithful and obedient to the wishes of the king”. It was only with the birth of the longed-for male heir to the throne Felipe Próspero in 1657 that the original depiction became useless. Velázquez used the canvas, the purpose of which was lost, at a later point in time, painted over areas and added his own person, then as a Santiago knight with a cross on his doublet. The question of what the painter in Las Meninas paints on his canvas can be answered as follows: He paints himself over painting over the original picture.

Mena Marqués' contribution sparked heated controversy within Las Meninas research. On the basis of radiographic examinations, the evidence of a different figure under the self-portrayal of the painter is known as a whole, but the overwhelming part of the research assumes that this is a mere positioning alternative for the figure of the painter. In 1998 Mena Marqués' theses were rejected "as subjective and fictitious" by Jonathan Brown, historian John H. Elliott and restorer Carmen Garrido.

influence

The painting inspired Oscar Wilde to write his fairy tale The Birthday Of The Infanta (1891). It has been set to music several times, including by Franz Schreker as the dance pantomime The Birthday of the Infanta and by Alexander von Zemlinsky as the one-act opera Der Zwerg .

The picture “ Bar in den Folies-Bergère ” (1982) by Edouard Manet takes up the theme and transfers it to a scene from the Folies Bergère cabaret in the second half of the 19th century.

Variations

In 1957 Pablo Picasso painted 44 variations of the Meninas, which can be seen in the Museu Picasso in Barcelona . Further variations of the theme come from Equipo Cronica , Las Meninas, 1970 , Yasumasa Morimura , Princess A, 1990 , from Yue Minjun , Infanta, 1997 and from Fernando Botero Nach Velazquez, 2000 . Sophie Matisse created a painting with the same title in 2001, which only shows the room without people. Between 2001 and 2005, John Wonnacot also created a variation of the work with The Family: Self Portrait as St. Anthony .

Provenance and condition of the painting

A fire in 1734 damaged the painting so much that the Infanta’s left cheek had to be largely repainted.

In the directories of the paintings of the Spanish court, Las Meninas was initially listed as La Familia ("The Family"). The first detailed description was published by Antonio Palomino in 1724 . Infrared studies have shown that Diego Velázquez made only a few changes to the structure of the painting or the posture of the people depicted during the artistic design process. Diego Velázquez's head was originally inclined to the left rather than to the right.

The painting has been trimmed on both of its long sides, although the art historian López-Rey believes that the cropping on the right side of the picture is more noticeable. The reason and time of the circumcision are not known. In the fire that almost completely destroyed the Alcázar in 1734, Las Meninas was also damaged and the original frame was lost. The court painter Juan García de Miranda then restored the painting and almost completely re-painted the left cheek of Infanta. In the inventory of the royal painting collection from the years 1747–1748, the painting is listed as recently restored; however, the directory incorrectly identifies the king's daughter as María Teresa, a half-sister of Infanta Margarita. The wrong attribution also appears in the inventory of the new Madrid Royal Palace, which was erected in 1772. The inventories from 1794 and 1814 refer to the painting as “The Family of Philip IV”. Las Meninas has been part of the Prado's collection since it was founded in 1819. In the 1843 catalog, the museum listed the work for the first time under the title Las Meninas , with which it is still commonly referred to today. During the final months of the Spanish Civil War , the painting was located in Geneva along with most of the Prado holdings. It was exhibited there in 1939 and hung there next to Pablo Picasso's painting Guernica .

The painting was last cleaned thoroughly in 1984. A yellowish haze of dust had settled on the surface of the painting. The cleaning, carried out under the supervision of Conservator John Brealey, provoked angry protests. The painting was not damaged in the cleaning process, but due to the color contrasts now appearing better, it looked significantly different than before. However, the art historian López-Rey describes the cleaning carried out as flawless.

Because of its size, its importance in art history and its value, the painting is no longer awarded by the Prado today. It can only be seen in this museum.

Painting materials

The painting was scientifically examined in the Museo del Prado in 1981, which also included an analysis of the pigments used. The investigation showed that some pigments changed their color over time; For example, the dark green skirt of the kneeling Menina was painted with azurite and was originally much lighter and more bluish. Velázquez also used his typical earth pigments (ocher), white lead , cinnabar and carbonaceous black pigments.

literature

  • Svetlana Alpers : Interpretation without representation or: Seeing Las Meninas. (1983). In: Thierry Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. An introduction to the methods of art history. Reimer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-496-01234-X , pp. 194-206.
  • Hermann Ulrich Asemissen: Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez (= Kassel booklets for art history and art education. H. 2). University Library, Kassel 1981, ISBN 3-88122-097-6 .
  • Wolfram Bergande: The image as self-confidence. Imagery and subjectivity according to Hegel and Lacan using the example of Diego de Velazquez 'Las Meninas. In: Philipp Soldt, Karin Nitzschmann (Hrsg.): The work of pictures. The presence of the image in the dialogue between psychoanalysis, philosophy and art history. Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2009, ISBN 978-3-8379-2023-9 , pp. 155–181, ( digitized version (PDF; 7.47 MB) ).
  • Reinhard Brandt : Philosophy in Pictures. From Giorgione to Magritte. 2nd Edition. DuMont, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-7701-5293-X .
  • Jonathan Brown: About the importance of Las Meninas. (1978). In: Thierry Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. An introduction to the methods of art history. Reimer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-496-01234-X , pp. 150-169.
  • Michel Foucault : The court maids. In: Michel Foucault: The order of things . An archeology of the human sciences. Translated from the French by Ulrich Köppen. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1971, pp. 31–45, (special edition for the 30th anniversary of the series Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch Wissenschaft. Ibid 2003, ISBN 3-518-06734-6 ).
  • Thierry Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. An introduction to the methods of art history. Reimer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-496-01234-X .
  • Thierry Greub: Reflections from Las Meninas. Introduction. In: Thierry Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. An introduction to the methods of art history. Reimer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-496-01234-X , pp. 7-34.
  • Rose-Marie Hagen, Rainer Hagen: Masterpieces in detail. Volume 2. Taschen, Cologne et al. 2005, ISBN 3-8228-4787-9 .
  • Michael Jacobs : Everything is happening. Journey into a painting. With a foreword, introduction and coda by Ed Vulliamy . Granta, London 2015, ISBN 978-1-84708-807-9 .
  • Carl Justi : Diego Velázquez and his century. Cohen, Bonn 1888.
  • Madlyn Millner Kahr: Velázquez and Las Meninas. In: The Art Bulletin. Vol. 57, No. 2, 1975, pp. 225-246, doi : 10.1080 / 00043079.1975.10787153 .
  • Caroline Kesser: Las Meninas by Velázquez. A history of impact and reception. Reimer, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-496-01113-0 .
  • Reinhard Liess : In the mirror of the "Meninas". Velázquez about himself and Rubens. V & R Unipress, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89971-101-7 .
  • José López-Rey: Velázquez. Catalog raisonné. Volume 1: Painter the Painter. Taschen, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-8228-6583-4 .
  • José López-Rey: Velázquez. Volume 2: Catalog raisonné. = Catalog raisonné. Taschen, Cologne et al. 1996, ISBN 3-8228-8723-4 .
  • Manuela B. Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. (1997). In: Thierry Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. An introduction to the methods of art history. Reimer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-496-01234-X , pp. 247-280.
  • John F. Moffitt: Velázquez in the Alcázar palace from 1656: The importance of the mise-en-scène of Las Meninas. (1983). In: Thierry Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. An introduction to the methods of art history. Reimer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-496-01234-X , pp. 40-72.
  • Antonio Palomino : describing the famous work of Don Diego Velázquez. (1724). In: Thierry Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. An introduction to the methods of art history. Reimer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-496-01234-X , pp. 34-39.
  • Ana María Rabe: The world's network. A philosophical essay on the space of Las Meninas. Wilhelm Fink, Munich et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-7705-4675-6 (Also: Braunschweig, University of Fine Arts, dissertation, 2008).
  • Victor I. Stoichita : Imago Regis: Art theory and royal portrait in the Meninas by Velázquez. (1986). In: Thierry Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. An introduction to the methods of art history. Reimer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-496-01234-X , pp. 207-234.
  • Suzanne L. Stratton-Pruitt (Ed.): Velázquez's Las meninas. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2003, ISBN 0-521-80488-4 .

Movie

  • The maids of honor, 1656 - Diego Velázquez. (OT: "Les Ménines", 1656 - Diego Vélasquez. ) Documentary, France, 2014, 26:20 min., Book: Élisabeth Couturier, director: Carlos Franklin, production: Les Poissons Volantes, arte France, RMN-Grand Palais, Canopé-CNDP, series: Hundred masterpieces and their secrets (OT: Les petits secrets des grands tableaux ), first broadcast: November 22, 2015 by arte, table of contents by arte.

Web links

Commons : Las Meninas  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kahr: Velázquez and Las Meninas. In: The Art Bulletin. Vol. 57, No. 2, 1975, pp. 225-246.
  2. ^ Hugh Honor, John Fleming: A World History of Art. Macmillan, London et al. 1982, ISBN 0-333-23583-5 , p. 447.
  3. ↑ Sira Dambe: "Enslaved sovereign": Aesthetics of power in Foucault, Velazquez and Ovid. In: Journal of Literary Studies. Vol. 22, No. 3/4, 2006, pp. 229-256, doi : 10.1080 / 02564710608530402
  4. ↑ Hagen: Masterpieces in Detail. Volume 2. 2005, p. 421.
  5. ^ Svetlana Alpers: The Vexations of Art. Velázquez and Others. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 2005, ISBN 0-300-10825-7 , p. 183.
  6. ^ Dawson W. Carr: Painting and Reality: The Art and Life of Velázquez. In: Dawson W. Carr, Xavier Bray, John H. Elliot, Larry Keith, Javier Portús (Eds.): Velázquez. National Gallery, London 2006, ISBN 1-85709-303-8 , pp. 26–55, here p. 46.
  7. ^ John Canaday: Baroque Painters (= The Norton Library. Lives of the Painters. 2). WW Norton, New York NY 1972, ISBN 0-393-00665-4 , and Kahr: Velázquez and Las Meninas. In: The Art Bulletin. Vol. 57, No. 2, 1975, pp. 225-246.
  8. ↑ Palomino: In which the famous work of Don Diego Velázquez is described. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 34-39.
  9. ^ Svetlana Alpers: The Vexations of Art. Velázquez and Others. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 2005, ISBN 0-300-10825-7 , p. 185.
  10. ↑ a b Jon Manchip White: Diego Velázquez. Painter and Courtier. Hamish Hamilton, London 1969, p. 143.
  11. ↑ Hagen: Masterpieces in Detail. Volume 2. 2005, p. 419.
  12. ↑ Brown: On the Importance of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 150–169, here p. 153.
  13. ↑ Harriet Stone: The Classical Model. Literature and Knowledge in Seventeenth Century France. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY et al. 1996, ISBN 0-8014-3212-X , p. 35.
  14. ↑ Analisa Leppanen: Into the house of mirrors. The carnivalesque in Las Meninas. In: Aurora. Vol. 1, 2000, ISSN  1527-652X , pp. 60-77.
  15. ^ Dawson W. Carr: Painting and Reality: The Art and Life of Velázquez. In: Dawson W. Carr, Xavier Bray, John H. Elliot, Larry Keith, Javier Portús (Eds.): Velázquez. National Gallery, London 2006, ISBN 1-85709-303-8 , pp. 26-55, here p. 47.
  16. ^ Hugh Honor, John Fleming: A World History of Art. Macmillan, London et al. 1982, ISBN 0-333-23583-5 , p. 449.
  17. ↑ Hagen: Masterpieces in Detail. Volume 2. 2005, p. 421.
  18. ^ Antonio Palomino, 1724. Quoted in Kahr: Velázquez and Las Meninas. In: The Art Bulletin. Vol. 57, No. 2, 1975, pp. 225-246.
  19. ^ Greub: Reflections of Las Meninas. Introduction. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 7–34, here p. 15.
  20. ^ Greub: Reflections of Las Meninas. Introduction. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 7–34, here p. 21.
  21. ↑ See Stoichita: Imago Regis: Art theory and royal portrait in the Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 207-234, here p. 225.
  22. ↑ Stoichita: Imago Regis: Art theory and royal portrait in the Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 207-234, here p. 214 f.
  23. ↑ See Greub: Reflections of Las Meninas. Introduction. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 7-34.
  24. ^ Greub: Reflections of Las Meninas. Introduction. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 7–34, here p. 11.
  25. ^ Greub: Reflections of Las Meninas. Introduction. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 7–34, here p. 12.
  26. ↑ See Brown: On the meaning of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 150–169, here p. 158.
  27. ^ Greub: Reflections of Las Meninas. Introduction. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 7–34, here p. 23.
  28. ↑ Quoted from Michel Foucault: This is not a pipe. Translated from the French and with an afterword by Walter Seitter . Hanser, Munich et al. 1997, ISBN 3-446-18904-1 , p. 55 f.
  29. ↑ Stoichita: Imago Regis: Art theory and royal portrait in the Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 207-234, here p. 224.
  30. ↑ Stoichita: Imago Regis: Art theory and royal portrait in the Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 207-234, here p. 223.
  31. ^ Moffitt: Velázquez in the Alcázar palace of 1656: The meaning of the mise-en-scène of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 40-72.
  32. ^ López-Rey: Velázquez. Volume 2. 1996, p. 22.
  33. ↑ Brown: On the Importance of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 150-169.
  34. ↑ Brown: On the Importance of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 150-169, here p. 163.
  35. ↑ Brown: On the Importance of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 150-169, here p. 155.
  36. ↑ Brown: On the Importance of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 150–169, here p. 164.
  37. ↑ Brown: On the Importance of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 150–169, here p. 157.
  38. ^ Moffitt: Velázquez in the Alcázar palace of 1656: The meaning of the mise-en-scène of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 40-72.
  39. ^ Moffitt: Velázquez in the Alcázar palace of 1656: The meaning of the mise-en-scène of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 40–72, here p. 57.
  40. ^ Moffitt: Velázquez in the Alcázar palace of 1656: The meaning of the mise-en-scène of Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 40–72, here p. 60.
  41. ↑ See Alpers: Interpretation without representation or: Seeing Las Meninas. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 194-206, here p. 198.
  42. ^ Foucault: The court maids. In: Foucault: The order of things. 1971, pp. 31-45.
  43. ^ A b Foucault: The court maids. In: Foucault: The order of things. 1971, pp. 31–45, here p. 45.
  44. ^ Foucault: The court maids. In: Foucault: The order of things. 1971, pp. 31–45, here p. 32.
  45. ^ Foucault: The court maids. In: Foucault: The order of things. 1971, pp. 31–45, here p. 44.
  46. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280.
  47. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here p. 256.
  48. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here p. 259.
  49. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here pp. 260 f.
  50. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here p. 264.
  51. ↑ a b Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here p. 270.
  52. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here p. 268.
  53. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here pp. 274 f.
  54. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here p. 275.
  55. ↑ Mena Marqués: The point on the sleeve of the dwarf Mari-Bárbola in the painting Las Meninas by Velázquez. In: Greub (ed.): Las Meninas in the mirror of interpretations. 2001, pp. 247-280, here p. 248.
  56. ↑ Las Meninas series. Museo Picasso, accessed April 19, 2016 .
  57. ^ Meninas de Equipo Crónica
  58. ↑ Darryl Wee: Yasumasa Morimura's Tribute to Velázquez at Shiseido Gallery. 2013.
  59. ^ Sophie Matisse: Las Meninas 2001 , francisnaumann.com, accessed April 19, 2016.
  60. ↑ Contemporary painting. back to the figure. Prestel, Munich et al. 2006, ISBN 3-7913-3694-0 , p. 204.
  61. ^ Michael Levey : Painting at Court (= The Wrightsman Lectures. 5). Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London 1971, ISBN 0-297-07349-4 , p. 147.
  62. ^ Kahr: Velázquez and Las Meninas. In: The Art Bulletin. Vol. 57, No. 2, 1975, pp. 225-246.
  63. ^ López-Rey: Velázquez. Volume 1. 1999, p. 214.
  64. ^ López-Rey: Velázquez. Volume 2. 1996, p. 306.
  65. ^ A b López-Rey: Velázquez. Volume 2. 1996, pp. 306, 310.
  66. ↑ a b c López-Rey: Velázquez. Volume 2. 1996, p. 310 f.
  67. ↑ Jutta Held , Alex Potts: How Do the Political Effects of Pictures Come about? The Case of Picasso's "Guernica". In: Oxford Art Journal. Vol. 11, No. 1, 1988, pp. 33-39, doi : 10.1093 / oxartj / 11.1.33 .
    John Russell: Masterpieces Caught Between Two Wars. In: The New York Times , September 3, 1989, accessed April 19, 2016.
  68. ^ The Cleaning of "Las Meninas". In: The Burlington Magazine . Vol. 127, No. 982, 1985, pp. 2 f., 41, JSTOR 881920 .
  69. ^ Federico Zeri: Behind the Image. The Art of Reading Paintings. Heinemann, London 1990, ISBN 0-434-89688-8 , p. 153.
  70. ↑ Gridley MacKim-Smith, Greta Andersen-Bergdoll, Richard Newman: Examining Velázquez. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 1988, ISBN 0-300-03615-9 , Col. 121 f.
  71. ^ Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas , at ColourLex.
  72. ↑ Simon Schama : In pursuit of genius. Review. In: Financial Times , August 1, 2015, p. 7, ( online ).