WEBVTT

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

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

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Every viewing raises more questions

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

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

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a perfect lifelike depiction
of the Spanish Court,

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it is also a complex meditation
on painting itself.

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It is a spellbinding work

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that is concerned 
with how we view a painting,

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and how the subjects
in a painting view us.

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Velasquez was 57 years old
when he painted this,

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and had been the court painter
for over 30 years.

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But in this painting
— for the first time —

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he includes himself among the courtiers,

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

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

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But who is he painting?

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The infanta? 
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" 
or "tavern" scenes,

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known in Spanish as "bodegones".

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They showed ordinary people
in ordinary settings,

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often with hidden allegorical meaning.

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When he was just 18, 
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
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 
surfaces.

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

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

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became his calling card 
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
treated with dignity by the artist

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and his early paintings not only showed

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a supremely confident
technique and attention to detail,

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he gave workers
a gravitas in his paintings.

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

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

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Precocious talented, 
he began a six-year apprenticeship

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when 
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
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
Caravaggio's work in person,

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

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accredited with the invention
of the monumental genre scene,

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which combines still life 
and genre painting,

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and often includes 
a biblical scene in the background,

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almost like a split screen effect.

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Velasquez painted several 
of these types of scenes,

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and he is clearly already
experimenting with illusion,

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with the picture within a picture,

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something he will perfect later
in Las Meninas.

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In 1623, two years after Philip IV

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came to the throne in Spain 
at the age of 16,

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

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was summoned to Madrid 
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 
official painter to the king on the spot,

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

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a remarkable achievement
for such a young man,

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and one which awakened jealousy
from the other court painters.

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Philipe IV of Spain and Velasquez 
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 
be his last of the king.

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Their relationship was unusually close
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
— just for a quick chat.

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It has been said

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that the principal motivating force
in Velasquez's life,

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was the desire to be a nobleman,

NOTE Paragraph

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and he would remain
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
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 
that he should be considered as a noble.

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At the same time 
he is painting his masterpiece,

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a committee are deciding

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whether he can be made a knight
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
in one of his paintings for the first time

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— on an equal footing
with Spanish royalty.

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It is so important to understand

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that a painter in 17th century 
Spain and elsewhere,

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was considered as just another
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
he had many other jobs.

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Velasquez was also 
the "Royal Chamberlain",

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a job that involved 
looking after the palace,

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buying firewood, 
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,
hanging from the painters belt,

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the symbolic keys
of his court offices

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of which he was inordinately proud.

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He was also the curator
of the king's galleries,

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responsible for negotiating 
the purchase of hundreds of works.

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

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was bought by Velasquez, 
on trips to Italy.

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The artist had a long life,

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but only produced 
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 
are attributed to him.

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

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He wanted to be seen

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as the greatest painter 
of the Spanish court

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

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The problem was that throughout
his time in the palace,

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his close friendship with the king

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meant he had 
his enemies in the court,

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who were determined 
to stop his rise through the ranks.

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Philipe became king in 1621 
at the age of 16

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and heir to the Hapsburg 
art collection in Madrid.

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In a court that commissioned

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not only paintings 
but poetry and theatre too,

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we often talk about
the "Golden Age of Spain",

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and it was a time 
when great palaces were being built

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and culture was flourishing, 
with among others:

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El Greco, Velasquez, Zurbaran, 
Murillo and Cervantes.

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

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mainly because of long drawn out 
expensive wars, revolts, revolutions,

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and trouble in the colonies.

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But also because 
of genetics and inbreeding.

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For two centuries, the Habsburg kings

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had married first cousins,
nieces and aunts,

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resulting in an onslaught of physical 
and mental ailments

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because of their limited gene pool.

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The distinctive "Habsburg jaw" 
we see on Philip IV

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was inherited from earlier Habsburgs,

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and likely the result 
of the Royal Family's inbreeding.

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Despite the Spanish Colonial Empire,

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the country was almost continuously
in financial difficulties,

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and had declared bankruptcies
in 1647 and 1653.

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The Spanish royal family 
was so broke

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that they often couldn't afford 
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 
17 years of salary payments.

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And yet, what does Las Meninas portray?

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A wealthy family dressed
in the finest clothes money can buy

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surrounded 
by gloriously attired servants

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in an ornate and sumptuous setting.

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Like all royal portraiture, 
it is a form of propaganda

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

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

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

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He had 10 children with his first wife, 
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 
to create a new son and heir,

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

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

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A daughter, Margarita Theresa, 
born in 1651,

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the infanta in Las Meninas,
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, 
was severely disabled,

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thanks to inbreeding,

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and he would be the last
of the Spanish Habsburgs.

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Velasquez's position at the court

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gave him unique access
to the royal collections,

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and he would naturally be influenced
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 
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
by his enslaved assistant,

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a notable painter in his own right, 
Juan de Pareja,

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who would be given
his freedom by Velasquez

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

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The work's extraordinary lifelike quality
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 
and most psychologically insightful works,

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which has been described 
as "a symphony in red".

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It is said that when the pope saw
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 
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
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
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, 
we can clearly see

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stylistic similarities
between the great masters.

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This early Titian painting hung
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
portraits would be judged.

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And this spectacular life-sized
equestrian portrait by Velasquez

NOTE Paragraph

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of Philip IV clearly influenced 
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,
more elegant and uses a lighter pallette,

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and doesn't rely 
on a highly charged background.

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The Flemish painter Rubens, even visited 
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 
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
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
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 
despite his humble background.

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The ambitious Velasquez 
saw Rubens as a role model,

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and through him he found someone
he could identify with.

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

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Titian used sketchy and loosely
applied brush work,

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and he would drag and smudge
paint over the canvas

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to suggest the form, 
rather than using definitive Strokes.

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He also used a very thick
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
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
to how Velasquez helped Philipe IV

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forge a calculated image
of power and piety.

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Probably the biggest influence
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 
in the collection of Philip IV,

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

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Like Las Meninas, the Arnolfini portrait 
also has a mirror

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positioned at the back
of the pictorial space,

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

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It also plays with pictorial space,
reflections and illusion,

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not only in art but also in literature.

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For example, Don Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes,

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is itself a complex multifaceted picture

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of the relationship
between reality and illusion.

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Velasquez used a very coarse canvas,

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

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but rather, he painted
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
as he was painting it,

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and these changes 
are known as "pentimento"

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Velasquez was so experienced
by the time of Las Meninas,

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

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which initially turned his head
more towards the Infanta.

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For much of his early career,

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the artist used 
a red ground for underlayer,

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good for building up 
contrast and tonal values

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- the light and the dark.

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But by the time of Las Meninas, 
he had a much looser style,

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and diluted his pigments t
o make them more translucent and fluid,

00:14:07.315 --> 00:14:09.274
and he painted quite thinly,

00:14:09.314 --> 00:14:12.747
so this necessitated using 
a neutral grey ground,

00:14:12.777 --> 00:14:15.080
which allowed 
for a much wider tonal range,

00:14:15.110 --> 00:14:18.938
greater luminosity
and a general silvery range of colour.

00:14:19.305 --> 00:14:21.070
This was unusual at the time,

00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:24.104
as most canvases were primed 
using dark colours.

00:14:24.674 --> 00:14:27.496
He would paint "alla Prima" or wet-on-wet,

00:14:27.496 --> 00:14:31.065
where layers of wet paint are applied 
to existing layers of wet paint,

00:14:31.065 --> 00:14:34.050
often finishing his paintings
in one session.

00:14:34.135 --> 00:14:36.411
With a painting
of this size and complexity,

00:14:36.411 --> 00:14:38.051
that would not be possible,

00:14:38.061 --> 00:14:41.176
and we can see one example
in the Infanta's sleeve,

00:14:41.176 --> 00:14:43.431
where although it is mostly wet-on-wet,

00:14:43.444 --> 00:14:47.094
areas of highlights have been dabbed 
on later in thick impasto,

00:14:47.094 --> 00:14:48.899
to create texture.

00:14:49.014 --> 00:14:52.576
With Velazquez, you are always aware
that you are looking at paint.

00:14:52.746 --> 00:14:56.151
He doesn't try to hide his brushmarks
- quite the reverse.

00:14:56.742 --> 00:14:59.194
By the time he came round
to painting Las Meninas,

00:14:59.210 --> 00:15:02.284
his technique was 
at its freest and most fluid.

NOTE Paragraph

00:15:02.864 --> 00:15:05.504
It is often called 
a precursor to Impressionism,

00:15:05.518 --> 00:15:07.345
but it's more than that.

00:15:07.375 --> 00:15:11.415
Here, the silver of the tray on which
the Menina holds the ceramic container

00:15:11.472 --> 00:15:14.248
is achieved with a couple of flicks
of white paint,

00:15:14.710 --> 00:15:17.669
and the flowers are just
a few slashes of red.

00:15:17.899 --> 00:15:22.065
We often talk about Chiaroscuro,
the extreme contrast of light and dark,

00:15:22.209 --> 00:15:24.006
when we talk about Velasquez,

00:15:24.036 --> 00:15:26.504
and comparisons 
are often made with Caravaggio.

00:15:26.754 --> 00:15:30.135
He painted his most technically
Caravaggio-like picture,

00:15:30.155 --> 00:15:32.732
"Christ after the flagellation', early on.

00:15:33.113 --> 00:15:36.742
But later, he used a more subtle 
variation of chiarascuro.

00:15:37.226 --> 00:15:40.537
Still using light to direct our vision
but more subtly.

00:15:40.627 --> 00:15:44.115
As we can see when we look
at Las Maninas in greyscale.

00:15:45.153 --> 00:15:48.362
Velasquez uses a dark colour palette
for Las Meninas,

00:15:48.457 --> 00:15:51.335
mostly neutral colours and quite limited,

00:15:51.366 --> 00:15:54.073
and yet he manages 
to get a broad range of tones

00:15:54.073 --> 00:15:58.340
with just whites, blues, yellows, 
ochres, and small touches of red,

00:15:58.618 --> 00:16:00.834
that help draw your eyes 
around the painting

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:00.834 --> 00:16:03.027
towards key points of interest.

00:16:03.499 --> 00:16:06.648
Velasquez even lets us know
which colours he used,

00:16:06.730 --> 00:16:09.538
as the palette that the painter holds
in his left hand,

00:16:09.555 --> 00:16:12.619
has the very pigments 
he used on Las Meninas.

00:16:16.727 --> 00:16:18.873
Between 1640 and 1660,

00:16:18.903 --> 00:16:21.189
Velasquez mostly painted 
single portraits.

00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:25.611
The composition and structure
of Las Meninas was extremely complicated,

00:16:25.671 --> 00:16:27.757
and with so many characters

00:16:27.767 --> 00:16:31.207
it's really like the staging of a piece 
of theatre or performance art.

00:16:31.237 --> 00:16:33.119
It needed to be carefully planned out,

00:16:33.119 --> 00:16:35.972
with every character seen,
as well as being seen.

00:16:36.126 --> 00:16:39.545
In Velasquez's hands, 
they are fully realised individuals.

00:16:40.305 --> 00:16:43.729
Thanks to the 18th century 
art historian Antonio Palamino,

00:16:43.733 --> 00:16:47.059
who wrote a 1724 book on Spanish painters,

00:16:47.174 --> 00:16:49.994
we know quite a lot 
about the people in Las Meninas,

00:16:49.994 --> 00:16:51.747
including their names.

00:16:52.019 --> 00:16:54.966
Palomino spoke to Velasquez 's colleagues
after his death,

00:16:55.066 --> 00:16:58.058
as well as four of the nine people
pictured in the painting.

00:16:58.370 --> 00:17:00.241
Most of the members of the Court

00:17:00.241 --> 00:17:02.560
are grouped around
the 5-year-old infanta,

00:17:02.560 --> 00:17:03.997
Margarita Teresa,

00:17:04.017 --> 00:17:07.660
who is attended by two "meninas"
- or maids-in-waiting.

00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:09.801
María Agustina Sarmiento,

00:17:09.811 --> 00:17:12.018
who is passing her water
in terracotta pots

00:17:12.048 --> 00:17:13.760
(so it could be summer).

00:17:13.760 --> 00:17:17.452
and Isabel de Velasco, 
who seems to be in mid-curtsy.

00:17:18.009 --> 00:17:20.540
Velasquez had painted the princess 
many times,

00:17:20.812 --> 00:17:24.362
but unfortunately she would die 
before she was out of her teens.

00:17:24.652 --> 00:17:26.572
She is in the centre of the painting,

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:26.582 --> 00:17:29.292
with the central axis
passing between her eyes.

00:17:29.592 --> 00:17:31.582
Her face is spotlit by light

00:17:31.622 --> 00:17:33.792
coming from an unseen window - top right,

00:17:33.826 --> 00:17:37.489
and her white satin dress glows
as she is bathed in the sun.

00:17:38.049 --> 00:17:39.871
It is the princess's presence

00:17:39.871 --> 00:17:42.012
that makes this a "political painting",

00:17:42.042 --> 00:17:45.656
as at the time the Infanta 
was the only child of Philipe IV,

00:17:45.726 --> 00:17:49.481
with the dynastic succession
resting on her tiny shoulders.

00:17:50.131 --> 00:17:52.718
Showing her as a healthy 
and beautiful princess

00:17:52.718 --> 00:17:55.315
is important for future 
marriage prospects.

00:17:56.064 --> 00:17:57.705
We don't know the name of the dog,

00:17:57.725 --> 00:17:59.893
but we know the breed
is a Spanish Mastiff,

00:17:59.893 --> 00:18:02.044
which were bred as guard dogs.

00:18:02.207 --> 00:18:06.219
There are few artists with such skill
in painting animals as Velasquez!

00:18:06.772 --> 00:18:09.749
The dog is being nudged awake
by Nicolas Pertusato,

00:18:09.771 --> 00:18:12.277
an Italian dwarf and Court jester.

00:18:12.475 --> 00:18:15.558
Next to him, is the Austrian dwarf 
Maria Bárbola,

00:18:15.678 --> 00:18:19.509
who is depicted in an unusual way
for a person in her position at the time.

00:18:20.078 --> 00:18:22.884
People with dwarfism
were considered curiosities,

00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:24.725
as little more than "pets",

00:18:24.765 --> 00:18:27.652
but Velasquez always 
gave dignity to characters

00:18:27.689 --> 00:18:30.226
who, due to their profession or condition,

00:18:30.226 --> 00:18:32.180
were treated as lesser beings.

00:18:32.180 --> 00:18:35.229
He shows Maria standing upright,
beside the princess.

00:18:35.422 --> 00:18:37.888
She has a thoughtful 
and controlled expression,

00:18:37.898 --> 00:18:41.866
and is looking directly at us
- or the royal couple.

00:18:42.882 --> 00:18:46.143
Velasquez entered the service 
of the palace as a royal servant

00:18:46.165 --> 00:18:48.337
and initially was considered a worker,

00:18:48.337 --> 00:18:50.865
just like the dwarves of the Court,
or the jesters.

00:18:51.081 --> 00:18:55.131
And so he treated them with an empathy, 
not seen before in royal portraits.

00:18:55.713 --> 00:18:58.089
He never mocked them or caricatured them,

00:18:58.089 --> 00:19:02.085
and often made them the focal point, 
as fully fleshed out humans.

00:19:02.836 --> 00:19:05.825
In the shadows, this woman 
is Doña Marcela de Ulloa,

00:19:05.825 --> 00:19:07.503
the Infanta's chaperone,

00:19:07.503 --> 00:19:10.550
and she is in mid-conversation 
with an unidentified bodyguard.

00:19:10.580 --> 00:19:14.837
At the rear is Don José Nieto Velázquez,
brother of the artist,

00:19:14.886 --> 00:19:17.263
and the Queen's Chamberlain.

00:19:17.263 --> 00:19:19.332
Velasquez had possibly painted him before.

00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:23.117
He has paused at the door, 
pulling back the heavy exterior curtain,

00:19:23.127 --> 00:19:25.089
with one foot resting on a step

00:19:25.109 --> 00:19:27.897
while his weight is on his other leg
on a different step.

00:19:28.242 --> 00:19:30.976
As the Queen's attendant
he was required to be at hand

00:19:30.976 --> 00:19:33.100
to open and close doors for her.

00:19:33.169 --> 00:19:35.834
We don't know however
if he is coming or going,

00:19:35.896 --> 00:19:38.203
but the light certainly 
pulls us in,

00:19:38.274 --> 00:19:40.989
and it looks
as if he will usher all of us,

00:19:41.019 --> 00:19:44.415
out from the created world
and into the real world.

00:19:44.741 --> 00:19:47.321
In this masterpiece of Illusion,

00:19:47.321 --> 00:19:50.294
Velasquez clearly goes beyond
the physical confines of space,

00:19:50.314 --> 00:19:52.699
by playing with implied spaces,

00:19:52.704 --> 00:19:54.854
in this case the rest of the palace.

00:19:55.296 --> 00:19:58.693
Velasquez himself is pictured 
emerging from behind the canvas,

00:19:58.753 --> 00:20:02.332
moving into our gaze 
from the shadows into the light,

00:20:02.652 --> 00:20:07.752
as he looks at us in the implied space
looking at him in the pictorial space.

00:20:08.051 --> 00:20:12.714
He is supremely self-confident and 
certainly no subservient courtier.

00:20:13.191 --> 00:20:15.770
He is proudly holding
the tools of his trade,

00:20:15.770 --> 00:20:18.657
his palette is turned towards us
showing its colours.

00:20:18.665 --> 00:20:21.082
He also holds a mahlstick,

00:20:21.092 --> 00:20:23.529
used for steadying the hand 
when doing close work.

00:20:23.569 --> 00:20:26.001
And the long round brushes
we know he used

00:20:26.031 --> 00:20:29.064
which created soft edges
rather than hard lines.

00:20:29.083 --> 00:20:32.700
His brush is dipped in paint
and perhaps he is considering

00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:34.852
whether to add some finishing touches,

00:20:34.852 --> 00:20:36.283
but it is also possible

00:20:36.294 --> 00:20:38.917
that the first stroke 
has not yet been applied.

00:20:38.957 --> 00:20:41.913
His hand is just a flurry 
of rapid brush strokes

00:20:41.913 --> 00:20:45.384
and it would appear
to be metamorphosing into his brush,

00:20:45.414 --> 00:20:48.440
as his flesh becomes instrument.

00:20:48.908 --> 00:20:53.428
It is audacious that a servant, 
albeit a courtier and royal favourite,

00:20:53.528 --> 00:20:56.692
has given himself greater
prominence than his master.

00:20:57.052 --> 00:20:59.810
But it is also inconceivable

00:20:59.810 --> 00:21:03.957
that Philip IV did not give 
the concept his blessing in advance.

00:21:04.090 --> 00:21:06.196
In the same way 
the Queen's Chamberlain

00:21:06.196 --> 00:21:09.005
is opening up the implied space
beyond the picture frame,

00:21:09.005 --> 00:21:11.938
the mirror here is reflecting
the opposite direction,

00:21:11.938 --> 00:21:14.371
forward into the viewer's space.

00:21:15.021 --> 00:21:18.773
The reflection is of King Philip IV
and Maria of Austria,

00:21:18.773 --> 00:21:20.622
the King and Queen.

00:21:20.748 --> 00:21:23.034
We know it is a mirror
and not a painting,

00:21:23.034 --> 00:21:25.499
as everything else is muted and fuzzy,

00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:27.395
whereas the image
of the King and Queen

00:21:27.405 --> 00:21:29.653
is bathed in light in the beveled mirror

00:21:29.713 --> 00:21:32.165
giving them an almost divine presence,

00:21:32.282 --> 00:21:34.250
that is, if we believe

00:21:34.250 --> 00:21:38.034
the King and Queen are in the same room
as the other characters.

00:21:40.999 --> 00:21:43.089
The aforementioned historian, Palamino,

00:21:43.089 --> 00:21:45.685
noted that the mirror 
which shows the royal couple,

00:21:45.715 --> 00:21:47.272
was actually a reflection,

00:21:47.272 --> 00:21:49.282
not of the real monarchs in the room,

00:21:49.282 --> 00:21:51.655
but of the canvas
Velasquez is working on.

00:21:51.755 --> 00:21:54.831
In other words, 
the couple are not in the room.

00:21:55.341 --> 00:21:59.090
This idea is disputed though
as the reflection is not logical.

00:21:59.485 --> 00:22:01.382
It has to be said though,

00:22:01.392 --> 00:22:04.233
this is not the first time 
Velasquez has painted an image

00:22:04.290 --> 00:22:07.772
which explores the relationship
between reality, reflection, and image,

00:22:08.389 --> 00:22:11.102
and which flouts the laws of Optics.

00:22:11.282 --> 00:22:14.923
Here too, we see the mirror
with this rather blurred reflection.

00:22:15.831 --> 00:22:19.170
The constant speculation
as to what is happening in this painting,

00:22:19.216 --> 00:22:20.839
who is where, and why,

00:22:20.899 --> 00:22:23.799
is absolutely intentional on the part 
of Velasquez.

00:22:24.587 --> 00:22:27.669
Whatever the study
of perspective or reflection tells us,

00:22:27.729 --> 00:22:30.889
the royal presence is still
the most plausible explanation

00:22:30.889 --> 00:22:33.440
for the outward glances
of the characters,

00:22:33.442 --> 00:22:36.205
and I think that the King and Queen
are in the room,

00:22:36.205 --> 00:22:38.620
and the mirror is a reflection of them

00:22:38.630 --> 00:22:41.486
at the far end of the room,
sitting for Velasquez.

00:22:41.806 --> 00:22:45.548
The fact that the Queen's Chamberlain
is opening the curtain to the Palace,

00:22:45.578 --> 00:22:48.314
suggests that the royal couple
are preparing to exit.

00:22:48.358 --> 00:22:51.670
This would explained 
the Infanta's gaze towards her parents.

00:22:52.150 --> 00:22:54.136
Velasquez, who seems to be peeping

00:22:54.146 --> 00:22:56.937
out of the darkness
realising his time is up,

00:22:56.992 --> 00:22:59.636
and the Menina 
to the right of the Infanta,

00:22:59.636 --> 00:23:02.559
who is beginning to curtsy,
as she looks towards the couple.

00:23:02.978 --> 00:23:06.038
There is a palpable sense
of anticipation in the air.

00:23:06.318 --> 00:23:09.363
If the King and Queen are there
— and I think they are —

00:23:09.423 --> 00:23:12.428
then Velasquez 
has one more trick up his sleeve.

00:23:12.518 --> 00:23:16.068
He has placed the King and Queen
outside of the pictorial space,

00:23:16.238 --> 00:23:19.840
standing exactly where we,
the commoners, would stand,

00:23:19.902 --> 00:23:21.716
when we view the paintings.

00:23:21.806 --> 00:23:25.361
We are standing right next
to King Philipe IV of Spain!

00:23:29.245 --> 00:23:31.569
With this painting, Velasquez 
was out to prove

00:23:31.569 --> 00:23:34.203
that painting 
was a noble, intellectual art,

00:23:34.228 --> 00:23:36.857
and Las Meninas would be evidence.

00:23:36.966 --> 00:23:40.488
It is in fact, a portrait 
about the painting of a portrait.

00:23:41.327 --> 00:23:43.782
Let's start with the physicality 
of the space.

00:23:43.847 --> 00:23:47.104
The building 
was destroyed by fire in 1734,

00:23:47.104 --> 00:23:49.381
but the historical plan still exist.

00:23:49.541 --> 00:23:52.630
Las Meninas was painted 
in the Cuarto del Príncipe,

00:23:52.660 --> 00:23:55.920
or the King's quarters, 
in the Alcazar in Madrid,

00:23:56.260 --> 00:23:58.355
which is the room depicted in the work.

00:23:58.675 --> 00:24:00.343
It was once part of the apartment

00:24:00.343 --> 00:24:03.797
occupied by the crown Prince 
Don Baltasar Carlos,

00:24:03.826 --> 00:24:05.810
who had died in 1646.

00:24:06.272 --> 00:24:08.165
Once the painting was finished

00:24:08.165 --> 00:24:10.732
it was planned to be placed
in that same room.

00:24:10.836 --> 00:24:12.631
An inventory of the room, proved

00:24:12.661 --> 00:24:15.249
that everything Velasquez painted, 
was really there

00:24:15.249 --> 00:24:17.061
(apart from the mirror in the back).

00:24:17.415 --> 00:24:20.415
The illusion starts 
with the almost life-size figures.

00:24:20.535 --> 00:24:24.710
The painting is enormous, 
coming in at over 10 feet by 9 feet.

00:24:25.190 --> 00:24:27.608
The room had 
these wonderful high ceilings,

00:24:27.648 --> 00:24:30.042
and the shutters
have been placed by Velasquez

00:24:30.062 --> 00:24:33.287
to reveal slivers of light 
exactly where he wants it.

00:24:33.631 --> 00:24:36.990
The main light source 
is from an invisible window to the right

00:24:37.040 --> 00:24:39.109
and another source is the door at the back

NOTE Paragraph

00:24:39.109 --> 00:24:40.832
that illuminates the figure

00:24:40.832 --> 00:24:43.682
and sends a pencil thin beam
across the floor.

00:24:44.149 --> 00:24:46.728
While Las Meninas
is clearly a royal painting,

00:24:46.764 --> 00:24:49.539
it stands out from 
other court paintings,

00:24:49.549 --> 00:24:52.682
because the piece was intended
to hang in a private room

00:24:52.692 --> 00:24:54.815
rather than displayed publicly.

00:24:54.855 --> 00:24:56.791
It may look formal to us nowadays,

00:24:56.791 --> 00:24:59.183
but compared to other royal portraits,

00:24:59.183 --> 00:25:02.767
Las Meninas is fairly spontaneous, 
casual, and relaxed.

00:25:02.913 --> 00:25:05.175
There is a lot in this painting;

00:25:05.225 --> 00:25:08.529
people, animals, reflections, 
paintings on the walls

00:25:08.560 --> 00:25:11.405
textures, other objects, and movement

00:25:11.512 --> 00:25:14.208
- and yet, there is a cohesion
to the canvas,

00:25:14.208 --> 00:25:17.061
because it is organised
in an orderly composition.

00:25:17.614 --> 00:25:19.353
It is balanced perfectly

00:25:19.353 --> 00:25:22.932
with the relatively quiet top half
against the busy bottom half.

00:25:23.521 --> 00:25:27.082
The figures occupy a clear 
horizontal strip across the painting,

00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:29.280
but it isn't frieze-like,

00:25:29.280 --> 00:25:31.850
as they are at different depths
into the view.

00:25:31.910 --> 00:25:34.888
The first layer is the canvas, 
the dwarf, and the dog.

00:25:35.656 --> 00:25:38.060
Then we have the Infanta and her maids.

00:25:38.996 --> 00:25:41.877
And then Velasquez, 
the chaperone and the bodyguard.

00:25:42.362 --> 00:25:44.792
The layering continues
throughout the picture,

00:25:44.802 --> 00:25:47.413
and beyond 
the picture frame.

00:25:48.191 --> 00:25:50.189
The painting features several frames;

00:25:50.189 --> 00:25:52.836
the frame of the room
in which they are all standing,

00:25:52.898 --> 00:25:55.067
the frames of the paintings on the wall,

00:25:55.067 --> 00:25:57.697
the frame of the canvas 
Velasquez is working on,

00:25:57.867 --> 00:25:59.276
the frame of the mirror,

00:25:59.276 --> 00:26:00.506
and the frame of the door

00:26:00.506 --> 00:26:01.736
in the background.

00:26:01.816 --> 00:26:05.646
These frames provide a strong linear
and geometric theme to the painting.

00:26:05.856 --> 00:26:08.621
You get a feel of structure
and organisation.

00:26:09.061 --> 00:26:13.012
But a perfect perspective is not essential
to our understanding of this painting,

00:26:13.433 --> 00:26:16.211
any more than a perfect 
understanding of Optics.

00:26:16.830 --> 00:26:18.319
What is the focal point?

00:26:18.428 --> 00:26:20.316
Well, there are several possibilities.

00:26:20.433 --> 00:26:22.405
Just look at the picture as a whole,

00:26:22.465 --> 00:26:25.030
and you notice your eye 
scans around the canvas,

00:26:25.040 --> 00:26:27.606
as it would do in any large space.

00:26:27.900 --> 00:26:30.382
We ricochet from one figure to another.

00:26:31.342 --> 00:26:33.765
Possible focus points are the man in the 
doorway,

00:26:33.765 --> 00:26:36.505
the Infanta, or the reflection
of the King and Queen.

00:26:36.943 --> 00:26:38.593
It seems at first glance

00:26:38.593 --> 00:26:42.001
that Velasquez is drawing 
all our attention to the Infanta,

00:26:42.051 --> 00:26:44.870
and he has used some clever 
and subtle techniques

00:26:44.883 --> 00:26:47.703
to draw attention to her
in such a busy scene.

00:26:47.959 --> 00:26:49.643
There is the dress of course,

00:26:49.643 --> 00:26:52.009
but also she faces towards
the main light source

00:26:52.009 --> 00:26:53.356
coming from the right,

00:26:53.356 --> 00:26:56.493
while most of the other figures
are facing away from the light.

00:26:57.030 --> 00:26:59.761
Maria Augustina 
is looking directly at her,

00:26:59.761 --> 00:27:03.515
and the characters to the left 
nudge us towards the Infanta.

00:27:03.967 --> 00:27:07.450
We do know that this painting 
was not intended to be on public view

00:27:07.466 --> 00:27:10.356
and was really considered
a private possession of the King

00:27:10.386 --> 00:27:12.294
- for an audience of one,

00:27:12.745 --> 00:27:16.270
which would suggest the focal point
is the reflection of the King.

00:27:17.020 --> 00:27:20.437
The focus is still highly debated 
and always wil be.

00:27:20.457 --> 00:27:22.425
But the vanishing point is not.

00:27:22.632 --> 00:27:26.043
It comes from José Nieto,
as he stands in the staircase,

00:27:26.857 --> 00:27:31.091
more specifically the crook of his arm
is the exact vanishing point.

00:27:31.876 --> 00:27:35.116
This is the key to Velasquez's 
mastery of Illusion.

00:27:35.396 --> 00:27:37.610
He uses realism, light, and structure

00:27:37.610 --> 00:27:40.133
to pull together the disparate elements

00:27:40.133 --> 00:27:42.583
in an exquisitely balanced painting.

00:27:43.186 --> 00:27:45.242
It is an image so complex,

00:27:45.302 --> 00:27:48.738
that he could only have achieved it
at this later stage of his life,

00:27:48.768 --> 00:27:50.458
with the extensive knowledge

00:27:50.458 --> 00:27:53.369
he has picked up 
from a lifetime of painting.

00:27:56.209 --> 00:27:59.340
The two paintings on the back wall
are important symbolically,

NOTE Paragraph

00:27:59.342 --> 00:28:03.750
and represent two oil paintings
by Rubens, Velasquez's role model.

00:28:03.750 --> 00:28:06.897
And show scenes 
from Ovid's "Metamorphoses".

00:28:06.916 --> 00:28:08.986
There is a good reason they are there.

00:28:09.016 --> 00:28:11.633
If we remember that Velasquez
wants desperately

00:28:11.633 --> 00:28:15.330
to raise his profession
from "tradesmen" to "artistic nobility".

00:28:15.500 --> 00:28:18.835
They tell the tale of the superiority, 
the nobility,

00:28:18.873 --> 00:28:21.266
and the Divine calling of the artist.

00:28:21.286 --> 00:28:25.216
In which mortals prove themselves
more skilled than even the gods.

00:28:25.672 --> 00:28:29.743
Rubens was the most influential
Flemish artist of the 17th century,

00:28:30.014 --> 00:28:32.353
so by linking himself with Rubens,

00:28:32.373 --> 00:28:36.763
Velasquez is showing that he had reached
the highest tier in European art.

00:28:39.843 --> 00:28:42.584
One of the great enigmas
in the portrait of Velasquez,

00:28:42.594 --> 00:28:44.350
is the Red Cross on his tunic.

00:28:45.130 --> 00:28:48.262
It is the heraldic symbol 
of the order of Santiago,

00:28:48.312 --> 00:28:51.531
a religious and military order, 
founded in the 12th century.

00:28:51.579 --> 00:28:53.490
He had petitioned the King

00:28:53.490 --> 00:28:56.072
to make him
a knight of Santiago for years,

00:28:56.082 --> 00:28:57.974
to secure a noble status,

00:28:57.980 --> 00:29:02.006
citing the link between artistic nobility
and social nobility.

00:29:02.436 --> 00:29:05.410
But the committee of the order 
of Santiago refused

00:29:05.485 --> 00:29:07.389
- due to his bloodline.

00:29:07.459 --> 00:29:10.928
It was rumoured that his grandparents
were Jewish converts.

00:29:10.938 --> 00:29:12.498
Luckily for Velasquez,

00:29:12.498 --> 00:29:14.539
as well as being employer and employee,

00:29:14.539 --> 00:29:16.989
he and Philip IV were close friends,

00:29:17.019 --> 00:29:20.836
and he was finally inducted 
in the order in 1659,

00:29:20.919 --> 00:29:22.918
a year before his death,

00:29:22.918 --> 00:29:26.023
after the King obtained 
a dispensation from the Pope

00:29:26.023 --> 00:29:29.497
to overrule doubts
as to the artist's blood and trade.

00:29:29.827 --> 00:29:33.097
Diego Velasquez,
in many ways was unremarkable,

00:29:33.097 --> 00:29:36.163
apart from the fact
he was appointed Court painter.

00:29:36.351 --> 00:29:39.080
He had one wife, one friend (the King),

00:29:39.140 --> 00:29:41.463
and one studio (the palace),

00:29:41.894 --> 00:29:45.006
and spent his whole life
climbing the social ladder.

00:29:45.070 --> 00:29:47.630
His Knighthood is the culmination.

00:29:48.120 --> 00:29:50.927
What makes makes this cross
in the painting interesting,

00:29:50.957 --> 00:29:52.201
is that he was knighted

00:29:52.201 --> 00:29:55.445
a full 3 years after 
Las Meninas was finished,

00:29:55.459 --> 00:29:57.644
and a year before he died,

00:29:57.644 --> 00:30:00.712
which means that the cross
was painted on the artist's tunic

00:30:00.712 --> 00:30:03.209
years after the painting was created.

00:30:03.774 --> 00:30:06.602
Tradition had it, 
that after the artist's death,

00:30:06.652 --> 00:30:11.170
Philipe IV himself painted the Red Cross
of the Knights of Santiago on the tunic,

00:30:11.170 --> 00:30:13.159
but that's unlikely.

00:30:13.209 --> 00:30:16.176
After the painting was cleaned
in the early 1980s

00:30:16.176 --> 00:30:18.766
it was revealed
that the brush work of the cross

00:30:18.766 --> 00:30:21.410
is uniform with the rest of the surface,

00:30:21.446 --> 00:30:24.631
so it was almost certainly Velasquez 
who painted the cross.

00:30:25.030 --> 00:30:28.153
We can only imagine
the immense satisfaction

00:30:28.173 --> 00:30:30.869
the artist got from adding 
the cross to the painting,

00:30:30.875 --> 00:30:33.986
and therefore rubbing
the snobby courtier's noses

00:30:33.989 --> 00:30:36.322
in the fact that he was now one of them.

00:30:37.242 --> 00:30:40.361
Velasquez, who was in essence, 
born a trades person,

00:30:40.389 --> 00:30:42.494
died a wealthy noble.

00:30:42.724 --> 00:30:45.885
On his death it is said
that the King was heartbroken,

00:30:45.885 --> 00:30:48.635
and the great friendship
that had united them

00:30:48.665 --> 00:30:51.606
is evident in three words
that the monarch wrote

00:30:51.646 --> 00:30:54.122
in a memorandum after his death:

00:30:54.382 --> 00:30:56.259
"I am shaken".

00:30:57.801 --> 00:30:59.921
Transcript by Margarida Mariz