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"Las Meninas", Diego Velasquez's portrait[br]of a Spanish princess and her entourage

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is one of (if not THE) most widely[br]discussed painting in Western Art.

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Every viewing raises more questions

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and every answer is followed[br]by a dense network of meanings.

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It is not only a high point[br]of realism in painting,

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a perfect lifelike depiction[br]of the Spanish Court,

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it is also a complex meditation[br]on painting itself.

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It is a spellbinding work

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that is concerned [br]with how we view a painting,

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and how the subjects[br]in a painting view us.

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Velasquez was 57 years old[br]when he painted this,

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and had been the court painter[br]for over 30 years.

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But in this painting[br]— for the first time —

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he includes himself among the courtiers,

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painting a monumental canvas[br]10 and 1/2 feet tall by 9 feet wide,

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the same size as the actual painting[br]that the painted canvas is shown within.

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But who is he painting?

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The infanta? [br]The king and queen of Spain?

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Or is he painting you, looking at him?

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Early in his career, Velasquez produced

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several of these "kitchen" [br]or "tavern" scenes,

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known in Spanish as "bodegones".

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They showed ordinary people[br]in ordinary settings,

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often with hidden allegorical meaning.

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When he was just 18, [br]he painted this extraordinary work,

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which shows a precocious talent

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for capturing the everyday moment

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and clearly shows his immense skill

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in depicting different[br]materials and textures,

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as well as his mastery of light and shadow

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on both opaque and reflective [br]surfaces.

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The detail of the eggs [br]frying in hot oil is a masterclass.

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This painting which was probably[br]painted to show off his skills,

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became his calling card [br]to the Royal Palace.

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Here, the water dripping down the jug

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demonstrates his astonishing ability

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to create an almost photographic reality.

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Common people were always[br]treated with dignity by the artist

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and his early paintings not only showed

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a supremely confident[br]technique and attention to detail,

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he gave workers[br]a gravitas in his paintings.

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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez[br]was born in 1599 in Seville,

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to a family with plenty of intellect[br]but little financial means.

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Precocious talented, [br]he began a six-year apprenticeship

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when [br]he was 12 years old,

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with the painter Francisco Pacheco,

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learning classical techniques of painting.

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But the young artist quickly moved away[br]from Pacheco's old-fashioned stiff style,

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towards a new dramatic naturalism

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inspired by Caravaggio and his followers.

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There is no evidence he saw[br]Caravaggio's work in person,

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but he knew the work of Pieter Aertsen,[br]a Dutch painter

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accredited with the invention[br]of the monumental genre scene,

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which combines still life [br]and genre painting,

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and often includes [br]a biblical scene in the background,

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almost like a split screen effect.

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Velasquez painted several [br]of these types of scenes,

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and he is clearly already[br]experimenting with illusion,

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with the picture within a picture,

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something he will perfect later[br]in Las Meninas.

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In 1623, two years after Philip IV

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came to the throne in Spain [br]at the age of 16,

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Velasquez, who was already being [br]talked about in the right circles,

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was summoned to Madrid [br]to paint a portrait of the king

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which we think is this one.

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It was an immediate success

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and he was pronounced [br]official painter to the king on the spot,

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with a promise that no one else should[br]portray the king without his permission,

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a remarkable achievement[br]for such a young man,

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and one which awakened jealousy[br]from the other court painters.

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Philipe IV of Spain and Velasquez [br]were linked together

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like no other patronage in Art History.

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He first painted him at the age of 24

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and 33 years later

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this painting would [br]be his last of the king.

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Their relationship was unusually close[br]for a monarch and his painter,

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and the king often came to Velasquez

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while he was painting in his workshop[br]— just for a quick chat.

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It has been said

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that the principal motivating force[br]in Velasquez's life,

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was the desire to be a nobleman,

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and he would remain[br]attached to the court

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for the rest of his life,

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where step by step he would ascend

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through the hierarchy[br]of court appointments,

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working his way up to a knighthood,

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and he used Las Maninas to prove [br]that he should be considered as a noble.

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At the same time [br]he is painting his masterpiece,

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a committee are deciding

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whether he can be made a knight[br]of the order of Santiago,

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in other words be ennobled.

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There is a reason he has put himself[br]in one of his paintings for the first time

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— on an equal footing[br]with Spanish royalty.

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It is so important to understand

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that a painter in 17th century [br]Spain and elsewhere,

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was considered as just another[br]crafts person, like a carpenter,

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in other words, a manual worker.

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And like most most court painters[br]he had many other jobs.

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Velasquez was also [br]the "Royal Chamberlain",

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a job that involved [br]looking after the palace,

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buying firewood, [br]bedding, and crockery.

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He had a key to every room in the palace

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and we can see here,[br]hanging from the painters belt,

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the symbolic keys[br]of his court offices

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of which he was inordinately proud.

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He was also the curator[br]of the king's galleries,

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responsible for negotiating [br]the purchase of hundreds of works.

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In fact, almost every Titian[br]you see today in the Prado,

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was bought by Velasquez, [br]on trips to Italy.

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The artist had a long life,

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but only produced [br]between 110 and 120 known canvases.

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He produced no etchings or engravings

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and only a few drawings [br]are attributed to him.

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This all ties into his two enormous,[br]but mutually exclusive, ambitions.

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He wanted to be seen

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as the greatest painter [br]of the Spanish court

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but he also wanted to go down[br]in History as a great gentleman.

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The problem was that throughout[br]his time in the palace,

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his close friendship with the king

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meant he had [br]his enemies in the court,

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who were determined [br]to stop his rise through the ranks.

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Philipe became king in 1621 [br]at the age of 16

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and heir to the Hapsburg [br]art collection in Madrid.

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In a court that commissioned

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not only paintings [br]but poetry and theatre too,

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we often talk about[br]the "Golden Age of Spain",

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and it was a time [br]when great palaces were being built

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and culture was flourishing, [br]with among others:

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El Greco, Velasquez, Zurbaran, [br]Murillo and Cervantes.

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But Philip IV was in trouble[br]for much of his rule,

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mainly because of long drawn out [br]expensive wars, revolts, revolutions,

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and trouble in the colonies.

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But also because [br]of genetics and inbreeding.

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For two centuries, the Habsburg kings

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had married first cousins,[br]nieces and aunts,

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resulting in an onslaught of physical [br]and mental ailments

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because of their limited gene pool.

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The distinctive "Habsburg jaw" [br]we see on Philip IV

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was inherited from earlier Habsburgs,

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and likely the result [br]of the Royal Family's inbreeding.

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Despite the Spanish Colonial Empire,

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the country was almost continuously[br]in financial difficulties,

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and had declared bankruptcies[br]in 1647 and 1653.

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The Spanish royal family [br]was so broke

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that they often couldn't afford [br]firewood to heat the palace,

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or bread for the tables.

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In fact, when Velasquez died,

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the crown still owed him [br]17 years of salary payments.

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And yet, what does Las Meninas portray?

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A wealthy family dressed[br]in the finest clothes money can buy

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surrounded [br]by gloriously attired servants

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in an ornate and sumptuous setting.

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Like all royal portraiture, [br]it is a form of propaganda

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designed to show a courtly audience,[br]dynastic stability and Imperial wealth.

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But one thing Philip IV can't disguise[br]is the lack of a male heir.

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He is on his second marriage[br]by the time of this painting.

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He had 10 children with his first wife, [br]Isabelle de Bourbon,

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but only one son and heir.

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His wife died in 1644.

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And then in 1646, their son died.

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A year later, in a hurry [br]to create a new son and heir,

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he married his 14-year-old niece, Marianna[br]— when he was 44.

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She gave him five children,[br]but only two survived to adulthood.

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A daughter, Margarita Theresa, [br]born in 1651,

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the infanta in Las Meninas,[br]who sadly would die in her teens,

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and the future king Charles II of Spain

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who was born 5 years after Las Meninas.

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Charles however, [br]was severely disabled,

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thanks to inbreeding,

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and he would be the last[br]of the Spanish Habsburgs.

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Velasquez's position at the court

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gave him unique access[br]to the royal collections,

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and he would naturally be influenced[br]by the works he saw every day.

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He also visited Italy at least twice,

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on extended trips [br]to buy paintings for Philipe IV,

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and to study the great masters.

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He was accompanied on these trips[br]by his enslaved assistant,

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a notable painter in his own right, [br]Juan de Pareja,

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who would be given[br]his freedom by Velasquez

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shortly after he painted this beautiful [br]and dignified portrait in 1650.

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The work's extraordinary lifelike quality[br]so astonished the papal court,

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that he was asked to paint Pope Innocent X

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one of the painter's best [br]and most psychologically insightful works,

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which has been described [br]as "a symphony in red".

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It is said that when the pope saw[br]his portrait completed,

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he exclaimed somewhat bewildered:

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"Troppo Vero" - "too truthful".

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The influence of contemporary [br]Italian artists, can be seen

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in Velasquez's mastery of perspective,

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and his rendering of the male nude[br]in this large canvas,

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he painted while in Rome.

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It was Titian and Peter Paul Rubens,

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who would have more influence[br]than any other artist

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on the development of his style,

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and in particular his royal portraits,

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where, in some cases, [br]we can clearly see

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stylistic similarities[br]between the great masters.

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This early Titian painting hung[br]in the Spanish Royal Palace

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when Philip IV came to power

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and was used as the standard

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by which all other royal equestrian[br]portraits would be judged.

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And this spectacular life-sized[br]equestrian portrait by Velasquez

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of Philip IV clearly influenced [br]by Titian and Rubens,

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not only in its simplicity of pose

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but also in its depiction of the King

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as a restrained and powerful ruler.

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Velasquez's portrait however is livelier,[br]more elegant and uses a lighter pallette,

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and doesn't rely [br]on a highly charged background.

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The Flemish painter Rubens, even visited [br]the Spanish court of Philip IV in 1628.

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He was actually on a diplomatic mission,

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but still managed to paint five [br]portraits of Philipe,

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while he was there.

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He became great friends with Velasquez

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and encouraged him to go to Italy[br]to study the Italian masters

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to move away from chiaroscuro,

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to be looser in his brush work[br]and to adopt a brighter palette colour.

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Rubens was not only a successful painter,

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but he was also an important diplomat

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who had been knighted [br]despite his humble background.

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The ambitious Velasquez [br]saw Rubens as a role model,

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and through him he found someone[br]he could identify with.

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It was Titian's late works that inspired[br]both Rubens and Velasquez.

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Titian used sketchy and loosely[br]applied brush work,

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and he would drag and smudge[br]paint over the canvas

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to suggest the form, [br]rather than using definitive Strokes.

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He also used a very thick[br]rough weave for his canvases,

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that gave texture to his surfaces.

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Velasquez would do the same.

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Maybe less well known is the influence[br]of Sánchez Coello and Antonis Mor,

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who were in the royal collection,

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and would also be important[br]to how Velasquez helped Philipe IV

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forge a calculated image[br]of power and piety.

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Probably the biggest influence[br]on Las Meninas though,

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was a painting from two centuries earlier,

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"The Arnolfini Portrait", by Jan Van Eyck,

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that I discussed in my earlier video.

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This too was [br]in the collection of Philip IV,

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and Velasquez would pass it every day[br]on the way to his Studio.

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Like Las Meninas, the Arnolfini portrait [br]also has a mirror

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positioned at the back[br]of the pictorial space,

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reflecting two figures who would have [br]the same point of view as we do.

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It also plays with pictorial space,[br]reflections and illusion,

0:13:08.811,0:13:11.349
not only in art but also in literature.

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For example, Don Quixote[br]by Miguel de Cervantes,

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is itself a complex multifaceted picture

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of the relationship[br]between reality and illusion.

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Velasquez used a very coarse canvas,

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and he didn't use many[br]preliminary sketches that we know of,

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but rather, he painted[br]directly onto the canvas.

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As we can see with these x-rays

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he often changed his work[br]as he was painting it,

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and these changes [br]are known as "pentimento"

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Velasquez was so experienced[br]by the time of Las Meninas,

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that the work has very few changes,[br]apart from his self-portrait,

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which initially turned his head[br]more towards the Infanta.

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For much of his early career,

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the artist used [br]a red ground for underlayer,

0:13:55.708,0:13:58.113
good for building up [br]contrast and tonal values

0:13:58.151,0:14:00.301
- the light and the dark.

0:14:00.371,0:14:03.706
But by the time of Las Meninas, [br]he had a much looser style,

0:14:03.726,0:14:07.235
and diluted his pigments t[br]o make them more translucent and fluid,

0:14:07.315,0:14:09.274
and he painted quite thinly,

0:14:09.314,0:14:12.747
so this necessitated using [br]a neutral grey ground,

0:14:12.777,0:14:15.080
which allowed [br]for a much wider tonal range,

0:14:15.110,0:14:18.938
greater luminosity[br]and a general silvery range of colour.

0:14:19.305,0:14:21.070
This was unusual at the time,

0:14:21.070,0:14:24.104
as most canvases were primed [br]using dark colours.

0:14:24.674,0:14:27.496
He would paint "alla Prima" or wet-on-wet,

0:14:27.496,0:14:31.065
where layers of wet paint are applied [br]to existing layers of wet paint,

0:14:31.065,0:14:34.050
often finishing his paintings[br]in one session.

0:14:34.135,0:14:36.411
With a painting[br]of this size and complexity,

0:14:36.411,0:14:38.051
that would not be possible,

0:14:38.061,0:14:41.176
and we can see one example[br]in the Infanta's sleeve,

0:14:41.176,0:14:43.431
where although it is mostly wet-on-wet,

0:14:43.444,0:14:47.094
areas of highlights have been dabbed [br]on later in thick impasto,

0:14:47.094,0:14:48.899
to create texture.

0:14:49.014,0:14:52.576
With Velazquez, you are always aware[br]that you are looking at paint.

0:14:52.746,0:14:56.151
He doesn't try to hide his brushmarks[br]- quite the reverse.

0:14:56.742,0:14:59.194
By the time he came round[br]to painting Las Meninas,

0:14:59.210,0:15:02.284
his technique was [br]at its freest and most fluid.

0:15:02.864,0:15:05.504
It is often called [br]a precursor to Impressionism,

0:15:05.518,0:15:07.345
but it's more than that.

0:15:07.375,0:15:11.415
Here, the silver of the tray on which[br]the Menina holds the ceramic container

0:15:11.472,0:15:14.248
is achieved with a couple of flicks[br]of white paint,

0:15:14.710,0:15:17.669
and the flowers are just[br]a few slashes of red.

0:15:17.899,0:15:22.065
We often talk about Chiaroscuro,[br]the extreme contrast of light and dark,

0:15:22.209,0:15:24.006
when we talk about Velasquez,

0:15:24.036,0:15:26.504
and comparisons [br]are often made with Caravaggio.

0:15:26.754,0:15:30.135
He painted his most technically[br]Caravaggio-like picture,

0:15:30.155,0:15:32.732
"Christ after the flagellation', early on.

0:15:33.113,0:15:36.742
But later, he used a more subtle [br]variation of chiarascuro.

0:15:37.226,0:15:40.537
Still using light to direct our vision[br]but more subtly.

0:15:40.627,0:15:44.115
As we can see when we look[br]at Las Maninas in greyscale.

0:15:45.153,0:15:48.362
Velasquez uses a dark colour palette[br]for Las Meninas,

0:15:48.457,0:15:51.335
mostly neutral colours and quite limited,

0:15:51.366,0:15:54.073
and yet he manages [br]to get a broad range of tones

0:15:54.073,0:15:58.340
with just whites, blues, yellows, [br]ochres, and small touches of red,

0:15:58.618,0:16:00.834
that help draw your eyes [br]around the painting

0:16:00.834,0:16:03.027
towards key points of interest.

0:16:03.499,0:16:06.648
Velasquez even lets us know[br]which colours he used,

0:16:06.730,0:16:09.538
as the palette that the painter holds[br]in his left hand,

0:16:09.555,0:16:12.619
has the very pigments [br]he used on Las Meninas.

0:16:16.727,0:16:18.873
Between 1640 and 1660,

0:16:18.903,0:16:21.189
Velasquez mostly painted [br]single portraits.

0:16:21.600,0:16:25.611
The composition and structure[br]of Las Meninas was extremely complicated,

0:16:25.671,0:16:27.757
and with so many characters

0:16:27.767,0:16:31.207
it's really like the staging of a piece [br]of theatre or performance art.

0:16:31.237,0:16:33.119
It needed to be carefully planned out,

0:16:33.119,0:16:35.972
with every character seen,[br]as well as being seen.

0:16:36.126,0:16:39.545
In Velasquez's hands, [br]they are fully realised individuals.

0:16:40.305,0:16:43.729
Thanks to the 18th century [br]art historian Antonio Palamino,

0:16:43.733,0:16:47.059
who wrote a 1724 book on Spanish painters,

0:16:47.174,0:16:49.994
we know quite a lot [br]about the people in Las Meninas,

0:16:49.994,0:16:51.747
including their names.

0:16:52.019,0:16:54.966
Palomino spoke to Velasquez 's colleagues[br]after his death,

0:16:55.066,0:16:58.058
as well as four of the nine people[br]pictured in the painting.

0:16:58.370,0:17:00.241
Most of the members of the Court

0:17:00.241,0:17:02.560
are grouped around[br]the 5-year-old infanta,

0:17:02.560,0:17:03.997
Margarita Teresa,

0:17:04.017,0:17:07.660
who is attended by two "meninas"[br]- or maids-in-waiting.

0:17:07.680,0:17:09.801
María Agustina Sarmiento,

0:17:09.811,0:17:12.018
who is passing her water[br]in terracotta pots

0:17:12.048,0:17:13.760
(so it could be summer).

0:17:13.760,0:17:17.452
and Isabel de Velasco, [br]who seems to be in mid-curtsy.

0:17:18.009,0:17:20.540
Velasquez had painted the princess [br]many times,

0:17:20.812,0:17:24.362
but unfortunately she would die [br]before she was out of her teens.

0:17:24.652,0:17:26.572
She is in the centre of the painting,

0:17:26.582,0:17:29.292
with the central axis[br]passing between her eyes.

0:17:29.592,0:17:31.582
Her face is spotlit by light

0:17:31.622,0:17:33.792
coming from an unseen window - top right,

0:17:33.826,0:17:37.489
and her white satin dress glows[br]as she is bathed in the sun.

0:17:38.049,0:17:39.871
It is the princess's presence

0:17:39.871,0:17:42.012
that makes this a "political painting",

0:17:42.042,0:17:45.656
as at the time the Infanta [br]was the only child of Philipe IV,

0:17:45.726,0:17:49.481
with the dynastic succession[br]resting on her tiny shoulders.

0:17:49.531,0:17:52.334
Showing her as a healthy and beautiful princess is important for future marriage prospects.

0:17:55.294,0:17:58.517
We don't know the name of the dog, but we know the breed is a Spanish Mastiff, which were bred as guard dogs.

0:18:01.527,0:18:03.139
There are few artists with such skill in painting animals as Velasquez!

0:18:06.452,0:18:09.418
The dog is being nudged awake by Nicolas Pertusato, an Italian dwarf and Court Jester.

0:18:12.595,0:18:15.948
Next to him, is the Austrian dwarf Maria Bárbola, who is depicted in an unusual way for a person in her position at the time.

0:18:19.108,0:18:21.244
People with dwarfism, were considered curiosities,

0:18:23.300,0:18:26.460
as little more than "pets", but Velasquez always gave [br]dignity to characters who, due to their profession or condition,

0:18:29.340,0:18:30.717
we

0:18:30.717,0:18:31.406
re treated as lesser beings.

0:18:32.726,0:18:34.029
He shows Maria standing upright, beside the princess.

0:18:35.332,0:18:38.662
She has a thoughtful and controlled expression, and is looking directly at us - or the royal couple.

0:18:42.102,0:18:44.133
Velasquez entered the service of the [br]18:44[br]palace as a royal servant

0:18:46.165,0:18:48.011
and initially was considered a worker, just like the dwarves of the court,

0:18:49.761,0:18:52.494
or the jesters. And so he treated them with an empathy, not seen before in Royal portraits.

0:18:55.204,0:18:58.670
He never mocked them or caricatured them, and often made them the focal point, as fully fleshed out humans.

0:19:02.085,0:19:04.573
In the shadows, this woman is Doña Marcela de Ulloa, the infanta's chaperone,

0:19:06.863,0:19:08.667
and she is in mid-conversation with an unidentified bodyguard.

0:19:10.347,0:19:12.576
At the rear is Don José Nieto Velázquez, brother of the artist,

0:19:14.886,0:19:16.840
and the Queen's Chamberlain. Velasquez had possibly painted him before.

0:19:18.510,0:19:20.917
He has paused at the door, pulling back the heavy exterior curtain,

0:19:23.127,0:19:25.492
with one foot resting on a step while his weight [br]is on his other leg on a different step.

0:19:27.712,0:19:30.209
As the Queen's attendant he was required to be at hand to [br]open and close doors for her.

0:19:32.349,0:19:35.124
We don't know however if he is coming or going, but the light certainly [br]pulls us in,

0:19:38.074,0:19:41.165
and it looks as if he will usher all of us, out from the created world and into the real world.

0:19:44.501,0:19:47.321
In this masterpiece of Illusion,

0:19:50.141,0:19:52.636
Velasquez clearly goes beyond the physical confines of space, [br]by playing with implied spaces, in this case the rest of the palace.

0:19:54.926,0:19:56.883
Velasquez himself is pictured [br]emerging from behind the canvas,

0:19:58.753,0:20:00.682
moving into our gaze from the shadows into the light,

0:20:02.382,0:20:05.101
as he looks at us in the implied space looking at him in the pictorial space.

0:20:08.001,0:20:11.854
He is supremely self-confident and [br]certainly no subservient courtier.

0:20:13.381,0:20:16.055
He is proudly holding the tools of his trade, his Palette is [br]turned towards us showing its colours

0:20:18.665,0:20:21.099
he also holds a mahlstick, used for steadying the hand [br]when doing close work.

0:20:23.429,0:20:26.334
And the long round brushes we know he used which created soft edges rather than hard lines.

0:20:29.240,0:20:31.905
His brush is dipped in paint and perhaps he is considering whether to add some finishing touches,

0:20:34.495,0:20:36.697
but it is also possible that the first stroke has not yet been applied.

0:20:38.527,0:20:42.044
His hand is just a flurry of rapid brush strokes and it would appear to be metamorphosing into his brush,

0:20:45.414,0:20:46.818
as his flesh becomes instrument.

0:20:48.818,0:20:51.041
It is audacious that a servant, albeit a courtier and Royal favourite,

0:20:53.265,0:20:55.032
has given himself greater prominence than his master.

0:20:56.832,0:21:00.405
But it is also inconceivable that Philip IV did not give the concept his Blessing in advance.

0:21:04.090,0:21:06.582
In the same way the Queen's Chamberlain is opening [br]up the implied space beyond the picture frame,

0:21:08.792,0:21:10.548
the mirror here is reflecting the opposite direction,

0:21:11.938,0:21:13.351
forward into the viewer's space.

0:21:14.831,0:21:17.532
The reflection is of King Philip IV and Maria of Austria, the [br]King and Queen.

0:21:20.138,0:21:22.609
We know it is a mirror, and not a painting, as everything else is muted and fuzzy,

0:21:24.729,0:21:28.272
whereas the image of the king and queen is bathed in light in the beveled mirror giving them an almost divine presence.

0:21:32.392,0:21:34.879
That is if we believe the King and Queen are in the same room as the other characters.

0:21:41.239,0:21:44.072
The aforementioned historian, Palamino, noted that the mirror which shows the royal couple, was actually a reflection,

0:21:46.892,0:21:49.172
not of the real monarchs in the room, but of the canvas Velasquez is working on.

0:21:51.453,0:21:53.221
In other words, the couple are not in the room.

0:21:55.161,0:21:57.145
This idea is disputed though, as the reflection is not logical.

0:21:59.215,0:22:03.439
It has to be said though, this is not the first time Velasquez has painted an image which explores the relationship between reality, reflection, and image,

0:22:07.869,0:22:10.972
and which flouts the laws of

0:22:11.012,0:22:13.063
Optics. Here too, we see the mirror with this rather blurred reflection.

0:22:15.033,0:22:17.029
The constant speculation as to what is happening in this painting,

0:22:19.026,0:22:21.639
who is where, and why, is absolutely intentional on the part [br]of Velasquez.

0:22:24.099,0:22:28.652
Whatever the study of perspective or reflection tells us, the Royal presence is still the most plausible explanation for the outward glances of the characters,

0:22:33.282,0:22:37.356
and I think that the King and Queen ARE in the room, and the mirror IS a reflection of them at the far end of the room,sitting for Velasquez.

0:22:41.526,0:22:44.953
The fact that the Queen's Chamberlain is opening the curtain to the Palace, [br]sugests that the royal couple are preparing to exit.

0:22:48.028,0:22:49.920
This would explained the infanta's gaze towards her parents.

0:22:51.670,0:22:54.082
Velasquez, who seems to be peeping out of the darkness realising [br]his time is up,

0:22:56.522,0:22:59.558
and the Manina to the right of the infanta, who is beginning to curtsy, as she [br]looks towards the couple.

0:23:02.658,0:23:04.568
There is a palpable sense of anticipation in the air.

0:23:06.318,0:23:09.388
If the king and queen are there, and I think they are, then Velasquez has one more trick up his sleeve.

0:23:12.238,0:23:14.165
He has placed the king and queen outside of the pictorial space,

0:23:15.845,0:23:18.366
standing exactly where we the commoners [br]would stand, when we view the paintings.

0:23:21.336,0:23:23.351
We are standing right next to King Philipe IV of Spain!

0:23:29.525,0:23:31.908
With this painting, Velasquez was out to prove that painting was a noble, intellectual art,

0:23:34.228,0:23:35.597
and Las Maninas would be evidence.

0:23:36.966,0:23:38.921
It is in fact, a portrait about the painting of a [br]portrait.

0:23:40.699,0:23:42.157
Let's start with the physicality of the space.

0:23:43.807,0:23:46.521
The building was destroyed by fire [br]in 1734, but the historical plan still exist.

0:23:49.031,0:23:52.470
Las meninas was painted in the Cuarto del Príncipe, or the [br]king's quarters, in the Alcazar in Madrid.

0:23:56.020,0:23:57.205
Which is the room depicted in the work.

0:23:58.365,0:24:02.012
It was once part of [br]the apartment occupied by the Crown Prince Don Baltasar Carlos, who had died in 1646.

0:24:05.412,0:24:07.961
Once the painting was finished it was planned to be placed in that same room.

0:24:10.376,0:24:13.605
An inventory of the room, proved [br]that everything Velasquez painted, was really there (apart from the mirror in the back).

0:24:16.965,0:24:18.785
The illusion starts with the almost life-size figures.

0:24:20.625,0:24:22.800
The painting is enormous, coming in at over 10 ft by 9 ft.

0:24:24.960,0:24:29.067
The room had these wonderful high ceilings, and the shutters have been placed by Velasquez to [br]reveal slivers of light exactly where he wants it.

0:24:33.071,0:24:35.000
The main light source is from an invisible window [br]to the right

0:24:37.040,0:24:40.249
, and another source is the door at the back, that illuminates the figure and sends a pencil thin beam across the floor.

0:24:43.759,0:24:46.419
While Las Meninas is clearly a royal painting, it stands out from [br]other court paintings,

0:24:48.929,0:24:51.775
because the piece was intended to hang in a private room rather than displayed publicly.

0:24:54.535,0:24:58.728
It may look formal to us nowadays, but compared to other Royal portraits, Las Meninas is fairly spontaneous, casual, and relaxed.

0:25:02.803,0:25:06.897
There is a LOT in this painting; people, animals, Reflections, [br]25:07[br]paintings on the wall, textures, other objects, and movement

0:25:10.992,0:25:13.999
- and yet, there is a cohesion to the [br]canvas, because it is organised in an orderly composition.

0:25:17.072,0:25:20.031
It is balanced perfectly with the [br]relatively quiet top half against the busy bottom half.

0:25:23.080,0:25:25.170
The figures occupy a clear horizontal strip [br]across the painting,

0:25:27.350,0:25:29.770
but it isn't frieze-like, as they are at different depths into the view.

0:25:31.700,0:25:33.618
The first layer is the canvas, the dwarf, and the dog.

0:25:35.536,0:25:36.901
Then we have the infanta and her maids.

0:25:38.265,0:25:40.087
And then Velasquez, the chaperone and the bodyguard.

0:25:41.927,0:25:44.283
The layering continues throughout the picture, and beyond [br]the picture frame.

0:25:48.191,0:25:52.188
The painting features several frames; the frame of the room in which they are all standing,

0:25:52.658,0:25:55.307
the frames of the paintings on the wall, the frame of the canvas Velasquez is working [br]on,

0:25:58.127,0:25:59.826
the frame of the mirror, and the frame of the door in the background.

0:26:01.816,0:26:03.666
These frames provide a [br]strong linear and geometric theme to the painting.

0:26:05.766,0:26:06.691
You get a feel of structure and organisation.

0:26:08.891,0:26:11.173
But, a perfect perspective is not essential to our understanding of this painting,

0:26:13.433,0:26:15.141
any more than a [br]perfect understanding of optics.

0:26:16.960,0:26:18.696
What is the focal point? Well there are several possibilities.

0:26:20.433,0:26:24.296
Just look at the picture as a whole, and you notice your eye scans around the canvas, as it would do in any large space.

0:26:28.410,0:26:30.682
We ricochet from one figure to another.

0:26:31.342,0:26:33.952
Possible Focus points are the man in the [br]doorway, the infanta, or the reflection of the King and Queen.

0:26:36.563,0:26:39.001
It seems at first glance that Velasquez is drawing all our attention to the infanta,

0:26:42.051,0:26:44.800
and he has used some clever and subtle techniques to draw [br]attention to her in such a busy scene.

0:26:47.399,0:26:50.258
There is the dress of course, but also she faces towards the main light[br]source coming from the right,

0:26:53.328,0:26:55.043
while most of the other figures are facing away from the light.

0:26:56.550,0:26:59.907
Maria Augustina is looking directly at her, and the characters to the left nudge us towards the infanta.

0:27:04.087,0:27:07.166
We do know that this painting was not intended to be on public View [br]and was really considered a private possession of the king

0:27:10.306,0:27:11.845
- for an audience of one.

0:27:12.305,0:27:14.290
Which would suggest the focal point is the reflection of the king?

0:27:16.350,0:27:19.197
The focus is STILL highly debated [br]and always wil

0:27:22.197,0:27:26.666
l be, but the vanishing point is not. It comes from José Nieto, as he stands in the staircase, more specifically the crook of his arm is the exact vanishing point.

0:27:31.876,0:27:33.636
THIS is the key to Velasquez's [br]mastery of Illusion.

0:27:36.076,0:27:39.136
He uses realism, light, and structure, to pull together the disparate elements [br]in an exquisitely balanced painting.

0:27:42.136,0:27:45.398
It is an image so complex, that he could only have achieved it at [br]this later stage of his life,

0:27:48.528,0:27:50.629
with the extensive knowledge he has picked up from a lifetime of painting.

0:27:56.639,0:28:00.244
The two paintings on the back wall are important symbolically, and represent two oil paintings by Rubens, Velasquez's role model.

0:28:03.834,0:28:06.577
And show scenes from Ovid's "Metamorphoses".

0:28:06.647,0:28:08.488
There is a good reason they are there.

0:28:09.079,0:28:12.050
If we remember that Velasquez wants desperately to raise his [br]profession from "Tradesmen" to "Artistic nobility".

0:28:14.870,0:28:17.786
They tell the tale of the superiority, the nobility, [br]and the Divine calling of the artist.

0:28:21.366,0:28:23.306
In which Mortals prove themselves more skilled than even [br]the gods.

0:28:25.246,0:28:27.555
Rubens was the most influential Flemish artist of the 17th century,

0:28:29.864,0:28:33.133
so by linking himself with Rubens, Velasquez is showing that he had reached the highest tier in European art.

0:28:39.843,0:28:42.126
One of the great enigmas in the portrait of Velasquez, is the Red Cross on his tunic.

0:28:44.410,0:28:47.792
It is the heraldic symbol of the order of Santiago,

0:28:47.802,0:28:49.711
a religious and Military order, founded in the 12th [br]century.

0:28:51.620,0:28:54.414
He had petitioned the king to make him a knight of Santiago for years, to secure Noble status,

0:28:57.760,0:29:00.346
citing the link between artistic nobility and social nobility.

0:29:02.806,0:29:05.034
But the committee of the order [br]of Santiago refused - due to his bloodline.

0:29:07.234,0:29:08.888
It was rumoured that his grandparents were Jewish converts.

0:29:10.428,0:29:13.559
Luckily for Velasquez, as well as being employer and employee, he and Philip IV were close friends,

0:29:16.579,0:29:19.428
and he was finally inducted in the order in 1659, a year before his death,

0:29:22.528,0:29:25.857
after the king obtained a dispensation from the Pope to overrule doubts as to the artist's blood and trade.

0:29:30.187,0:29:33.241
Diego Velasquez, in many ways was unremarkable, apart from the fact he was appointed court painter.

0:29:35.791,0:29:40.350
He had one wife, one Friend (the King), and one Studio (the palace), and spent his whole life climbing the social ladder.

0:29:45.000,0:29:47.280
His Knighthood is the culmination.

0:29:48.340,0:29:51.755
What makes makes this cross in the painting interesting, is that he was knighted a full 3 years after Las meninas was finished,

0:29:54.999,0:29:59.048
and a year before he died, which means that the cross was painted on the artist's tunic years after the painting was created.

0:30:03.388,0:30:08.149
Tradition had it, that after the artist's death, Philipe IV [br]himself painted the Red Cross of the Knights of Santiago on the tunic, but that's unlikely.

0:30:12.769,0:30:16.957
After the painting was cleaned in the early 1980s it was revealed that the brush work of the cross is uniform with the rest of the surface,

0:30:21.146,0:30:23.010
so it was almost certainly Velasquez [br]who painted the cross.

0:30:24.980,0:30:30.417
We can only imagine the immense satisfaction the artist got from adding [br]the cross to the painting, and therefore rubbing the snobby courtier's noses in the fact that he was now one of them.

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Velasquez, who was in essence, born a trades person, died a wealthy Noble.

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On his death it is said that the King was heartbroken, and the great friendship that had united them, is evident in three words that the Monarch wrote

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in a memorandum after his death: "I am shaken".

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Transcript by Margarida Mariz