Las Meninas, painted around 1656 by Diego Velazquez • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS In 1656, Diego Vélasquez completed the gigantic canvas, 3.18 m high and 2.76 m wide, which we now know under the title Las Meninas . The painter probably began it in the fall of 1655, the correlation of shadows and light entering through the windows suggesting this time of year. Velazquez did not sign the painting. A usual practice on his part, but in this specific case a signature would have been useless. The life-size dimensions, the presence of the painter's self-portrait, the fact that this painting was intended for the king's private summer "office" located deep in the basement of the old Alcazar, where only Philip IV could contemplating, and his work – portraits depicted with a lifted brushstroke – make Meninas an exceptional painting, which could only be the work of the court painter to the King of Spain. A “secret” painting However, the work constitutes a kind of “secret” painting which could even have caused a scandal. Indeed nobody speaks of Las Meninas before 1696, when Félix da Costa, a Portuguese who saw the painting around 1662, described and criticized it in his Antiguidade da arte da pintura . For him, it is "more a self-portrait of Velázquez than a portrait of the empress [the Infanta Margarita]". Conversely, around 1700, the painter Luca Giordano praised it, speaking of "the theology of painting". Later, in his book Spanish Parnassus written in 1724 and including a long biography of Vélasquez, the painter and theoretician Antonio Palomino gives us the most precise description of the painting that has come down to our days and identifies its subjects:the Infanta doña Marguerite-Thérèse of Austria and her noble bridesmaids or meninas , doña María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor and doña Isabel de Velasco; the dwarf and valet Nicolasito Pertusato and the dwarf Mari Bárbola; doña Marcela de Ulloa, lady-in-waiting to the queen; an anonymous guard; finally Velázquez himself, at work in front of a large canvas of which the viewer can only see the back. In reality, Velazquez appears in the painting not as a painter, but because he is in the service of the king. If we compare the painting to other works of 17th century court art century, one of the most striking aspects of Las Meninas is the presence of the painter, to the left of the painting, a particularly innovative full-length representation. In reality, Velasquez appears in the painting not as a painter, but because he is in the service of the king. His coat and the gold key hanging from his belt indicate the high office of Grand Master of the Royal Apartments that he had obtained thanks to King Philip IV. Since he was appointed painter to the king in 1623, Vélasquez has held functions at the Spanish court that are not strictly artistic and which provide him with good salaries and wages. He manages to be granted the social status of hidalgo (noble) and in 1659 he obtains the most prestigious of honors by being named knight of the military order of Santiago, reported in The Las Meninas by a shiny cross painted by him or another painter of his acquaintances on the finished painting. Is painting a profession? Velazquez had difficulty obtaining these honours, especially the last, the statutes of the order of Santiago requiring that the line of candidates be composed of former Christians, that they be hidalgos and that they have never exercised a manual trade. So many problematic conditions in the case of Velázquez, whose ancestors were certainly converted Jews and whose paternal grandfather had worked as a hosier and small trader. What's more, painting was considered a "trade" incompatible with the status of an aristocrat. Velazquez is therefore forced to go in search of witnesses – we do not know if he is subordinating them or convincing them to give false testimony – to prove both his lineage and the character of “liberal activity” of his practice as a painter, that he exercises "solely for [his] personal pleasure and to please the monarch". Finally, the decision of Philip IV and the papal support dispensed him from proving the unprovable, and it was in 1659, at the Corpus Christi monastery in Madrid, that he publicly received the habit and the cross, or insignia, of the order of Santiago. Unhappy with the king's decision, the other knights choose to ignore the painter. It is possible that this personal event had an influence on the composition of Las Meninas . Vélasquez saw his art as a liberal activity devoid of any servility. Hence the preponderance of the painter in the painting... Indeed, the apparent, even banal, naturalness of the scene represented by the painting conceals a much deeper element:with this remarkable work, Velazquez challenged those for whom painting was a profession:he saw his art as a liberal activity devoid of any servility. Hence the preponderance of the painter in the painting, certainly placed on the side, but whose figure is the most imposing. A unique trompe-l'oeil In the 18 th century, Las Meninas were simply called La Famille de Philippe IV , a traditional title for a court portrait. But Velázquez's painting was a much more complex and original work. We see a scene of the life of the court which, from the very personal point of view of Vélasquez, was duplicated in the portrait that the painter executes inside the painting. Its life-size proportions transformed this composition into a huge and revolutionary trompe-l'oeil, a "three-dimensional canvas", a kind of door or window through which the viewer can observe reality beyond the frame, and not just a painting. surface, like the reflection of a mirror. It is therefore not surprising that in the 19 th century, the writer Théophile Gautier wondered:“But where is the painting? » Las Meninas were a revolutionary work because of the pictorial genre in which it was part. Palomino defines it as a capricho nuevo , a "new fantasy", that is to say the fruit of the painter's imagination intended to surprise and amaze anyone who contemplates the work. If the portrait had until then been considered a secondary genre, based on a simple imitation, Velazquez demonstrated that it could also be the art of invention and thought. The mirror placed at the back of the painting is proof of the virtuosity and ingenuity shown by the artist in this work. This mirror restores the image of Philippe IV and Marie-Anne of Austria, which Velasquez would therefore be portraying on the painting placed on the left:with regard to the perspective, the spectator contemplating the painting is therefore next to the sovereigns visible only through this mirror. With regard to the perspective, the spectator is therefore next to the sovereigns, visible only through the intermediary of the mirror. In 1656, the king had refused to be represented by his court painter for more than ten years. As he wrote in a letter dating from 1653, "I do not lower myself to passing through Velasquez's humor and brushes, and not to see myself grow old", which may suggest that Les Meninas were for Velasquez a means of circumventing this prohibition and of portraying the king even if the latter refused to do so, thus creating a new category of portrait of a sovereign. You could reproduce the wonders of nature with a brush, as if a canvas were a “perennial” mirror. But Velázquez's lively brushstroke, as well as subsequent retouching, demonstrated that there was a hand between the tool and the spirit of the painter; the hand of the one who handled the brush with a certain nonchalance, without apparent effort, without apparent will, as the supreme symbol of the nobility and courtesy of the creator of the work. “Perfection consists of a few effective brushstrokes, not because these brushstrokes do not require work, but because their execution must appear free, without effort and without affectation,” writes a contemporary. "This very elegant method has made Diego Vélasquez famous today [...], because with a subtle dexterity, in a few touches, he shows what Art, ease, and speed of execution can do. Therein indeed lay the miracle of his art. Find out more Velasquez , by Yves Bottineau, Citadelles &Mazenod, 2015. Timeline 1649 Velazquez travels to Italy a second time. In Venice, he admired the works of Tintoretto and Veronese; in Parma and Bologna, the works of Correggio. He executed a portrait of the pope in Rome.1651 After returning from Italy, where he was made a member of the Academy of San Luca, Velázquez painted a portrait of the Infanta Margarita for the Imperial Court in Vienna.1656 Vélasquez paints his major work, Las Meninas, and oversees the placement of paintings and works of art at the Escorial. He was made a Knight of the Order of Santiago in 1658.1660 As grand master of the palace, Vélasquez took care of the preparation of the meeting between Philippe IV and Louis XIV on the island of Pheasants. Sick on his return, he died on August 6. Discussions between a painter and a king Philip IV was a great lover of the arts. He composed and played music, translated books from Italian and drew. He was particularly passionate about painting:in his youth, when Rubens had settled at the Spanish court to carry out an order, the king often visited him to observe his way of working. He does the same with Vélasquez, a painter whose value he immediately discerns and whom he will support for forty years. Contemporaries knew that the king spent "whole hours talking" with Velázquez in his studio, either during the long posing sessions dictated by the 15 portraits that the artist made of the king, or while he was working on another canvas. . A familiarity, certainly, but not to be confused with a true friendship, contrary to what has sometimes been said. A heavy load to manage In the last phase of his life, the pictorial production of Vélasquez decreased significantly, no doubt because of the functions that the painter had to assume at the palace. The office of grand master of the palace apartments – the symbol of which was a double key hanging from the belt, which can be seen in his self-portrait in Las Meninas – greatly enhanced Velázquez’s status, but kept him busy for much of the day. The Grand Master was responsible for ensuring that the entire palace was clean, that doors and windows were opened and closed when necessary, and he was responsible for the supply of coal and firewood. He set the table when the king dined in public, and arranged his chair during ceremonies. Vélasquez also had the mission of directing the major restructuring works of the Alcazar, including in particular a new gallery of paintings. The private wealth of the king's painter Velazquez dies four years after finishing Les Ménines , possibly a myocardial infarction. A week later, his wife Juana Pacheco also died. The complete inventory of the property of the spouses reveals the high standard of living of the king's painter. Vélasquez and doña Juana lived in a two-storey house with a mezzanine and an attic, equipped with substantial, quality furniture (marble tables, walnut chairs, etc.), a large number of sculptures, tapestries and paintings, and a large amount of silverware. Velázquez had a well-stocked wardrobe of five full men's suits and seven hats. It seems that the artist was a tobacco lover, as the register mentions two silver tobacco pouches and 12 lighters. He also had a library with 154 books. A scene captured from life Unlike conventional portraits, the subjects of Las Meninas do not pose, but are captured in motion, like a photographic snapshot. One interpretation of the scene is as follows:the Infanta goes to the studio to watch the artist work. She asks for water and, just as one of the meninas presents it to her, the royal couple enters. The menina on the right bows, the painter interrupts his work to look at the sovereigns, and the Infanta who, a second before, was looking at the dog with which one of the dwarfs was playing, turns her gaze towards her parents. The dwarf remains motionless, while the lady-in-waiting is absorbed in her conversation with the bodyguard. In the background, the chamberlain seems to be waiting for the departure of the monarchs. Keys to a landmark work1 Where was the painting painted? The room depicted in Las Meninas is not the painter's studio, but a gallery on the second floor of the nearby Alcazar. Thanks to the plans of Gómez de Mora, we know that the room was about 20 m long, 5 m wide and 4 m high, that it had seven windows on one side and two doors in the back, of which the one opening onto a staircase leading to the upper floor. Vélasquez, an expert in architecture and perspective, reproduces this space with great accuracy; he thus painted five of the seven windows, as well as the paintings by painters who adorned the walls.2 How did Velazquez paint it? If Velazquez painted Las Meninas in the gallery of the palace and not in his studio, one can wonder how he managed to make his self-portrait. Some believe that he would have placed himself in the position of spectator and would have asked a substitute to stand in front of the easel. Another hypothesis is that he used a large mirror to reflect the whole scene. On the other hand, it has been calculated that the height of observation of the painting is located at 1.35 m, so that we look at the scene from a point of view located lower than the subjects, in accordance with the so-called ceiling perspective.3 What do we see in the mirror? Intuitively, the image reflected in the mirror in the background of the painting is thought to be that of the royal couple who would observe the scene at the location where the viewer is. This “trick” is present in other paintings, such as The Arnolfini Spouses by Van Eyck. But, in 1724, Palomino already affirmed that the mirror reflected the picture that Velázquez was painting, a theory confirmed by current researchers who have analyzed the perspective used by the artist, and who have noticed that the image reflected in the mirror could only have come from an element on the left.4 Is there a hidden political message? Some historians suggested that Las Meninas conveyed moral or political significance. The painting would constitute a concrete variant of the "Mirror of Princes", these treatises which taught the virtues and faculties that the ideal monarch had to possess. In the case of Las Meninas , the recipient of the lesson would be the Infanta Margaret – then heiress of the Habsburg line since her brother, the future Charles II, was not yet born –, to whom her parents, reflected in a mirror, would show by their example the way to the throne.
