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"Las Meninas", Diego Velázquez'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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Velázquez 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, Velázquez 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 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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Velázquez 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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Velázquez, 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 Velázquez [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 Velázquez

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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 Velázquez'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 Meninas" 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 court painters[br]he had many other jobs.

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Velázquez 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 painter's 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 Velázquez, [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 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 Habsburg [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, Velázquez, Zurbarán, [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 Velázquez 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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Velázquez'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 Velázquez

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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 Velázquez'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 Velázquez

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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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Velázquez'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 Velázquez

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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 Velázquez [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 Velázquez.

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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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Velázquez 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 Velázquez 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 Velázquez 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]reflection and illusion,

0:13:08.811,0:13:11.429
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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Velázquez 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

0:13:35.114,0:13:37.585
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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Velázquez 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,

0:14:03.726,0:14:07.615
and diluted his pigments to make them[br]more translucent and fluid,

0:14:07.615,0:14:09.314
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,

0:14:21.070,0:14:24.374
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.

0:14:34.135,0:14:36.531
With a painting[br]of this size and complexity,

0:14:36.531,0:14:38.051
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 Velázquez, you are always aware[br]that you are looking at paint.

0:14:52.746,0:14:56.381
He doesn't try to hide his brush marks[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

0:15:11.472,0:15:14.558
is achieved with a couple of flicks[br]of white paint,

0:15:14.710,0:15:17.829
and the flowers are just[br]a few slashes of red.

0:15:17.899,0:15:22.205
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 Velázquez,

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

0:15:26.804,0:15:30.135
He painted his most technically[br]Caravaggio-like picture,

0:15:30.155,0:15:32.919
"Christ after the flagellation', early on.

0:15:33.113,0:15:36.984
But later, he used a more subtle [br]variation of "chiaroscuro",

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 Meninas" 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

0:15:54.073,0:15:58.550
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
Velázquez 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,

0:16:09.555,0:16:12.921
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
Velázquez mostly painted [br]single portraits.

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

0:16:25.671,0:16:27.373
and with so many characters

0:16:27.373,0:16:31.207
it's really like the staging of a piece [br]of theatre or performance art.

0:16:31.237,0:16:33.236
It needed to be carefully planned out,

0:16:33.236,0:16:36.112
with every character seen,[br]as well as being seen.

0:16:36.126,0:16:39.847
In Velázquez's hands, [br]they are fully realized 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",

0:16:49.994,0:16:51.825
including their names.

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

0:16:55.066,0:16:58.138
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,

0:17:02.560,0:17:04.227
Margarita Teresa,

0:17:04.227,0:17:07.660
who is attended by two "meninas"[br]- or maids-in-waiting.

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

0:17:09.811,0:17:12.148
who is passing her water[br]in terracotta pots

0:17:12.168,0:17:13.963
(so it could be summer).

0:17:14.040,0:17:17.732
and Isabel de Velasco, [br]who seems to be in mid-curtsy.

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

0:17:20.722,0:17:24.362
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,

0:17:26.582,0:17:29.462
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,

0:17:33.826,0:17:37.817
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' 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,

0:17:45.726,0:17:49.661
with the dynastic succession[br]resting on her tiny shoulders.

0:17:50.131,0:17:52.718
Showing her as a healthy [br]and beautiful princess

0:17:52.718,0:17:55.845
is important for future [br]marriage prospects.

0:17:56.064,0:17:57.705
We don't know the name of the dog,

0:17:57.725,0:17:59.893
but we know the breed[br]is a Spanish Mastiff,

0:17:59.893,0:18:02.144
which were bred as guard dogs.

0:18:02.207,0:18:06.409
There are few artists with such skill[br]in painting animals as Velázquez!

0:18:06.772,0:18:09.749
The dog is being nudged awake[br]by Nicolás Pertusato,

0:18:09.771,0:18:12.277
an Italian dwarf and court jester.

0:18:12.475,0:18:15.558
Next to him, is the Austrian dwarf [br]Maria Bárbola,

0:18:15.678,0:18:19.821
who is depicted in an unusual way[br]for a person in her position at the time.

0:18:20.078,0:18:22.884
People with dwarfism[br]were considered curiosities,

0:18:22.990,0:18:24.725
as little more than "pets",

0:18:24.765,0:18:27.652
but Velázquez always [br]gave dignity to characters

0:18:27.689,0:18:30.226
who, due to their profession or condition,

0:18:30.226,0:18:32.180
were treated as lesser beings.

0:18:32.180,0:18:35.259
He shows Maria standing upright,[br]beside the princess.

0:18:35.422,0:18:37.888
She has a thoughtful [br]and controlled expression,

0:18:37.898,0:18:42.186
and is looking directly at us[br]- or the royal couple.

0:18:42.882,0:18:46.143
Velázquez entered the service [br]of the palace as a royal servant

0:18:46.165,0:18:48.337
and initially was considered a worker,

0:18:48.337,0:18:50.865
just like the dwarves of the court,[br]or the jesters.

0:18:51.081,0:18:55.131
And so he treated them with an empathy, [br]not seen before in royal portraits.

0:18:55.713,0:18:58.089
He never mocked them or caricatured them,

0:18:58.089,0:19:02.305
and often made them the focal point, [br]as fully fleshed out humans.

0:19:02.836,0:19:05.825
In the shadows, this woman [br]is Doña Marcela de Ulloa,

0:19:05.825,0:19:07.503
the Infanta's chaperone,

0:19:07.503,0:19:10.550
and she is in mid-conversation [br]with an unidentified bodyguard.

0:19:10.580,0:19:14.837
At the rear is Don José Nieto Velázquez,[br]brother of the artist,

0:19:14.886,0:19:17.013
and the queen's chamberlain.

0:19:17.013,0:19:19.332
Velázquez had possibly painted him before.

0:19:19.400,0:19:23.117
He has paused at the door, [br]pulling back the heavy exterior curtain,

0:19:23.127,0:19:25.089
with one foot resting on a step

0:19:25.109,0:19:28.127
while his weight is on his other leg[br]on a different step.

0:19:28.242,0:19:30.976
As the queen's attendant[br]he was required to be at hand

0:19:30.976,0:19:33.100
to open and close doors for her.

0:19:33.169,0:19:35.834
We don't know however[br]if he is coming or going,

0:19:35.896,0:19:38.203
but the light certainly pulls us in,

0:19:38.274,0:19:40.989
and it looks [br]as if he will usher all of us,

0:19:41.019,0:19:44.563
out from the created world[br]and into the real world.

0:19:44.741,0:19:47.321
In this masterpiece of Illusion,

0:19:47.321,0:19:50.294
Velázquez clearly goes beyond[br]the physical confines of space,

0:19:50.314,0:19:52.699
by playing with implied spaces,

0:19:52.704,0:19:54.854
in this case the rest of the palace.

0:19:55.296,0:19:58.693
Velázquez himself is pictured [br]emerging from behind the canvas,

0:19:58.753,0:20:02.547
moving into our gaze [br]from the shadows into the light,

0:20:02.652,0:20:07.893
as he looks at us in the implied space[br]looking at him in the pictorial space.

0:20:08.051,0:20:12.931
He is supremely self-confident and [br]certainly no subservient courtier.

0:20:13.191,0:20:15.770
He is proudly holding[br]the tools of his trade,

0:20:15.770,0:20:18.657
his palette is turned towards us[br]showing its colours.

0:20:18.665,0:20:21.082
He also holds a mahlstick,

0:20:21.092,0:20:23.529
used for steadying the hand [br]when doing close work.

0:20:23.569,0:20:26.001
And the long round brushes[br]we know he used

0:20:26.031,0:20:29.064
which created soft edges[br]rather than hard lines.

0:20:29.253,0:20:32.700
His brush is dipped in paint[br]and perhaps he is considering

0:20:32.700,0:20:34.852
whether to add some finishing touches,

0:20:34.852,0:20:36.283
but it is also possible

0:20:36.294,0:20:38.917
that the first stroke [br]has not yet been applied.

0:20:38.957,0:20:41.913
His hand is just a flurry [br]of rapid brush strokes

0:20:41.913,0:20:45.794
and it would appear[br]to be metamorphosing into his brush,

0:20:45.804,0:20:48.660
as his flesh becomes instrument.

0:20:48.908,0:20:53.428
It is audacious that a servant, [br]albeit a courtier and royal favourite,

0:20:53.528,0:20:56.902
has given himself greater[br]prominence than his master.

0:20:57.052,0:20:59.810
But it is also inconceivable

0:20:59.810,0:21:03.957
that Philip IV did not give [br]the concept his blessing in advance.

0:21:04.090,0:21:06.196
In the same way [br]the Queen's Chamberlain

0:21:06.196,0:21:09.005
is opening up the implied space[br]beyond the picture frame,

0:21:09.005,0:21:12.158
the mirror here is reflecting[br]the opposite direction,

0:21:12.188,0:21:14.541
forward into the viewer's space.

0:21:15.021,0:21:18.773
The reflection is of king Philip IV[br]and Maria of Austria,

0:21:18.843,0:21:20.622
the king and queen.

0:21:20.748,0:21:23.034
We know it is a mirror[br]and not a painting,

0:21:23.094,0:21:25.499
as everything else is muted and fuzzy,

0:21:25.559,0:21:27.395
whereas the image[br]of the King and Queen

0:21:27.405,0:21:29.653
is bathed in light in the beveled mirror

0:21:29.713,0:21:32.165
giving them an almost divine presence,

0:21:32.282,0:21:34.250
that is, if we believe

0:21:34.250,0:21:38.034
the king and queen are in the same room[br]as the other characters.

0:21:40.999,0:21:43.089
The aforementioned historian, Palamino,

0:21:43.089,0:21:45.685
noted that the mirror [br]which shows the royal couple,

0:21:45.715,0:21:47.272
was actually a reflection,

0:21:47.272,0:21:49.282
not of the real monarchs in the room,

0:21:49.282,0:21:51.655
but of the canvas[br]Velázquez is working on.

0:21:51.755,0:21:54.831
In other words, [br]the couple are not in the room.

0:21:55.341,0:21:59.282
This idea is disputed though[br]as the reflection is not logical.

0:21:59.485,0:22:01.382
It has to be said though,

0:22:01.392,0:22:04.233
this is not the first time [br]Velázquez has painted an image

0:22:04.290,0:22:08.192
which explores the relationship[br]between reality, reflection, and image,

0:22:08.389,0:22:11.154
and which flouts the laws of Optics.

0:22:11.282,0:22:15.230
Here too, we see the mirror[br]with this rather blurred reflection.

0:22:15.831,0:22:19.170
The constant speculation[br]as to what is happening in this painting,

0:22:19.216,0:22:20.839
who is where, and why,

0:22:20.899,0:22:23.876
is absolutely intentional on the part [br]of Velázquez.

0:22:24.587,0:22:27.669
Whatever the study[br]of perspective or reflection tells us,

0:22:27.729,0:22:30.889
the royal presence is still[br]the most plausible explanation

0:22:30.889,0:22:33.440
for the outward glances[br]of the characters,

0:22:33.442,0:22:36.205
and I think that the king and queen[br]are in the room,

0:22:36.205,0:22:38.620
and the mirror is a reflection of them

0:22:38.630,0:22:41.641
at the far end of the room,[br]sitting for Velázquez.

0:22:41.806,0:22:45.548
The fact that the queen's chamberlain[br]is opening the curtain to the Palace,

0:22:45.578,0:22:48.314
suggests that the royal couple[br]are preparing to exit.

0:22:48.358,0:22:51.670
This would also explained [br]the infanta's gaze towards her parents.

0:22:52.150,0:22:54.136
Velázquez, who seems to be peeping

0:22:54.146,0:22:56.937
out of the darkness[br]realizing his time is up,

0:22:56.992,0:22:59.636
and the "Menina"[br]to the right of the Infanta,

0:22:59.636,0:23:02.559
who is beginning to curtsy,[br]as she looks towards the couple.

0:23:02.978,0:23:06.038
There is a palpable sense[br]of anticipation in the air.

0:23:06.318,0:23:09.363
If the king and queen are there[br]— and I think they are —

0:23:09.423,0:23:12.428
then Velázquez [br]has one more trick up his sleeve.

0:23:12.518,0:23:16.068
He has placed the king and queen[br]outside of the pictorial space,

0:23:16.238,0:23:19.840
standing exactly where we,[br]the commoners, would stand,

0:23:19.902,0:23:21.716
when we view the paintings.

0:23:21.806,0:23:25.361
We are standing right next[br]to king Philipe IV of Spain!

0:23:29.245,0:23:31.569
With this painting, Velázquez [br]was out to prove

0:23:31.569,0:23:34.363
that painting [br]was a noble, intellectual art,

0:23:34.398,0:23:36.857
and "Las Meninas" would be evidence.

0:23:36.966,0:23:40.975
It is in fact, a portrait [br]about the painting of a portrait.

0:23:41.327,0:23:43.782
Let's start with the physicality [br]of the space.

0:23:43.847,0:23:47.104
The building [br]was destroyed by fire in 1734,

0:23:47.104,0:23:49.381
but the historical plan still exists.

0:23:49.541,0:23:52.630
"Las Meninas" was painted [br]in the "Cuarto del Príncipe",

0:23:52.660,0:23:55.920
or the king's quarters, [br]in the Alcázar in Madrid,

0:23:56.260,0:23:58.355
which is the room depicted in the work.

0:23:58.675,0:24:00.781
It was once part of the apartment

0:24:00.781,0:24:03.797
occupied by the crown prince [br]Don Baltasar Carlos,

0:24:03.826,0:24:06.050
who had died in 1646.

0:24:06.272,0:24:08.165
Once the painting was finished

0:24:08.165,0:24:10.592
it was planned to be placed[br]in that same room.

0:24:10.836,0:24:12.631
An inventory of the room proved

0:24:12.661,0:24:15.249
that everything Velázquez painted, [br]was really there

0:24:15.249,0:24:17.341
(apart from the mirror in the back).

0:24:17.415,0:24:20.415
The illusion starts [br]with the almost life-size figures.

0:24:20.535,0:24:24.781
The painting is enormous, [br]coming in at over 10 feet by 9 feet.

0:24:25.190,0:24:27.608
The room had [br]these wonderful high ceilings,

0:24:27.648,0:24:30.042
and the shutters[br]have been placed by Velázquez

0:24:30.062,0:24:33.482
to reveal slivers of light [br]exactly where he wants it.

0:24:33.631,0:24:36.990
The main light source [br]is from an invisible window to the right

0:24:37.040,0:24:39.109
and another source is the door at the back

0:24:39.109,0:24:40.832
that illuminates the figure

0:24:40.832,0:24:43.862
and sends a pencil thin beam[br]across the floor.

0:24:44.149,0:24:46.728
While "Las Meninas"[br]is clearly a royal painting,

0:24:46.764,0:24:49.539
it stands out from [br]other court paintings,

0:24:49.549,0:24:52.682
because the piece was intended[br]to hang in a private room

0:24:52.692,0:24:54.815
rather than displayed publicly.

0:24:54.855,0:24:56.791
It may look formal to us nowadays,

0:24:56.791,0:24:59.183
but compared to other royal portraits,

0:24:59.183,0:25:03.226
"Las Meninas" is fairly spontaneous, [br]casual, and relaxed.

0:25:03.226,0:25:05.175
There is a lot in this painting;

0:25:05.225,0:25:08.669
people, animals, reflections, [br]paintings on the walls

0:25:08.680,0:25:11.405
textures, other objects, and movement

0:25:11.512,0:25:14.208
- and yet, there is a cohesion[br]to the canvas,

0:25:14.208,0:25:17.301
because it is organized[br]in an orderly composition.

0:25:17.614,0:25:19.353
It is balanced perfectly

0:25:19.353,0:25:23.308
with the relatively quiet top half[br]against the busy bottom half.

0:25:23.521,0:25:27.292
The figures occupy a clear [br]horizontal strip across the painting,

0:25:27.460,0:25:29.280
but it isn't frieze-like,

0:25:29.280,0:25:31.850
as they are at different depths[br]into the view.

0:25:31.910,0:25:34.888
The first layer is the canvas, [br]the dwarf, and the dog.

0:25:35.656,0:25:38.060
Then we have the infanta and her maids.

0:25:38.996,0:25:42.287
And then Velázquez, [br]the chaperone and the bodyguard.

0:25:42.362,0:25:44.892
The layering continues[br]throughout the picture,

0:25:44.932,0:25:47.413
and beyond the picture frame.

0:25:48.191,0:25:50.189
The painting features several frames;

0:25:50.189,0:25:52.836
the frame of the room[br]in which they are all standing,

0:25:52.898,0:25:55.067
the frames of the paintings on the wall,

0:25:55.067,0:25:57.697
the frame of the canvas [br]Velázquez is working on,

0:25:57.867,0:25:59.276
the frame of the mirror,

0:25:59.276,0:26:01.766
and the frame of the door[br]in the background.

0:26:01.816,0:26:05.646
These frames provide a strong linear[br]and geometric theme to the painting.

0:26:05.856,0:26:08.931
You get a feel of structure[br]and organization.

0:26:09.061,0:26:13.199
But a perfect perspective is not essential[br]to our understanding of this painting,

0:26:13.433,0:26:16.488
any more than a perfect [br]understanding of Optics.

0:26:16.830,0:26:18.319
What is the focal point?

0:26:18.428,0:26:20.316
Well, there are several possibilities.

0:26:20.433,0:26:22.445
Just look at the picture as a whole,

0:26:22.465,0:26:25.030
and you notice your eye [br]scans around the canvas,

0:26:25.040,0:26:27.676
as it would do in any large space.

0:26:27.900,0:26:30.382
We ricochet from one figure to another.

0:26:31.342,0:26:33.895
Possible focus points are the man in the [br]doorway,

0:26:33.895,0:26:36.835
the Infanta, or the reflection[br]of the king and queen.

0:26:36.943,0:26:38.593
It seems at first glance

0:26:38.593,0:26:42.001
that Velázquez is drawing [br]all our attention to the infanta,

0:26:42.051,0:26:45.010
and he has used some clever [br]and subtle techniques

0:26:45.033,0:26:47.893
to draw attention to her[br]in such a busy scene.

0:26:47.959,0:26:49.643
There is the dress of course,

0:26:49.643,0:26:52.009
but also she faces towards[br]the main light source

0:26:52.039,0:26:53.386
coming from the right,

0:26:53.426,0:26:56.612
while most of the other figures[br]are facing away from the light.

0:26:57.030,0:26:59.991
Maria Agustina [br]is looking directly at her,

0:27:00.011,0:27:03.675
and the characters to the left [br]nudge us towards the infanta.

0:27:03.967,0:27:07.450
We do know that this painting [br]was not intended to be on public view

0:27:07.466,0:27:10.356
and was really considered[br]a private possession of the king

0:27:10.386,0:27:12.734
- for an audience of one,

0:27:12.745,0:27:16.270
which would suggest the focal point[br]is the reflection of the king.

0:27:17.020,0:27:20.437
The focus is still highly debated [br]and always will be.

0:27:20.457,0:27:22.425
But the vanishing point is not.

0:27:22.632,0:27:26.453
It comes from José Nieto,[br]as he stands in the staircase,

0:27:26.857,0:27:31.401
more specifically the crook of his arm[br]is the exact vanishing point.

0:27:31.876,0:27:35.336
This is the key to Velázquez's[br]mastery of Illusion.

0:27:35.396,0:27:37.610
He uses realism, light, and structure

0:27:37.610,0:27:40.133
to pull together the disparate elements

0:27:40.133,0:27:42.583
in an exquisitely balanced painting.

0:27:43.186,0:27:45.242
It is an image so complex,

0:27:45.302,0:27:48.738
that he could only have achieved it[br]at this later stage of his life,

0:27:48.768,0:27:50.458
with the extensive knowledge

0:27:50.458,0:27:53.369
he has picked up [br]from a lifetime of painting.

0:27:56.209,0:27:59.552
The two paintings on the back wall[br]are important symbolically,

0:27:59.552,0:28:03.750
and represent two oil paintings[br]by Rubens, Velázquez's role model

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and show scenes [br]from Ovid's "Metamorphoses".

0:28:06.916,0:28:08.986
There is a good reason they are there,

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if we remember that Velázquez[br]wants desperately

0:28:11.633,0:28:15.440
to raise his profession[br]from "tradesmen" to "artistic nobility".

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They tell the tale of the superiority, [br]the nobility,

0:28:18.873,0:28:21.266
and the divine calling of the artist.

0:28:21.286,0:28:25.404
In which mortals prove themselves[br]more skilled than even the gods.

0:28:25.672,0:28:29.987
Rubens was the most influential[br]Flemish artist of the 17th century,

0:28:30.014,0:28:32.353
so by linking himself with Rubens,

0:28:32.373,0:28:36.763
Velázquez is showing that he had reached[br]the highest tier in European art.

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One of the great enigmas[br]in the portrait of Velázquez,

0:28:42.594,0:28:44.350
is the red cross on his tunic.

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It is the heraldic symbol [br]of the order of Santiago,

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a religious and military order, [br]founded in the 12th century.

0:28:51.909,0:28:53.490
He had petitioned the king

0:28:53.490,0:28:56.072
to make him[br]a knight of Santiago for years,

0:28:56.082,0:28:57.974
to secure a noble status,

0:28:57.980,0:29:02.006
citing the link between artistic nobility[br]and social nobility.

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But the committee of the order [br]of Santiago refused

0:29:05.485,0:29:07.389
- due to his bloodline.

0:29:07.459,0:29:10.928
It was rumoured that his grandparents[br]were Jewish converts.

0:29:10.938,0:29:12.498
Luckily for Velázquez,

0:29:12.498,0:29:14.539
as well as being employer and employee,

0:29:14.539,0:29:16.989
he and Philip IV were close friends,

0:29:17.019,0:29:20.836
and he was finally inducted [br]in the order in 1659,

0:29:20.919,0:29:22.918
a year before his death,

0:29:22.918,0:29:26.023
after the King obtained [br]a dispensation from the Pope

0:29:26.023,0:29:29.657
to overrule doubts[br]as to the artist's blood and trade.

0:29:29.827,0:29:33.097
Diego Velázquez,[br]in many ways was unremarkable,

0:29:33.097,0:29:36.163
apart from the fact[br]he was appointed court painter.

0:29:36.351,0:29:39.080
He had one wife, one friend (the king),

0:29:39.140,0:29:41.463
and one studio (the palace),

0:29:41.894,0:29:45.006
and spent his whole life[br]climbing the social ladder.

0:29:45.200,0:29:47.630
His knighthood is the culmination.

0:29:48.120,0:29:50.927
What makes this cross[br]in the painting interesting,

0:29:50.957,0:29:52.201
is that he was knighted

0:29:52.201,0:29:55.445
a full 3 years after [br]"Las Meninas" was finished,

0:29:55.459,0:29:57.644
and a year before he died,

0:29:57.644,0:30:00.712
which means that the cross[br]was painted on the artist's tunic

0:30:00.712,0:30:03.449
years after the painting was created.

0:30:03.774,0:30:06.602
Tradition had it, [br]that after the artist's death,

0:30:06.652,0:30:11.170
Philipe IV himself painted the red cross[br]of the Knights of Santiago on the tunic,

0:30:11.170,0:30:13.159
but that's unlikely.

0:30:13.209,0:30:16.176
After the painting was cleaned[br]in the early 1980s

0:30:16.176,0:30:18.766
it was revealed[br]that the brush work of the cross

0:30:18.766,0:30:21.410
is uniform with the rest of the surface,

0:30:21.446,0:30:24.631
so it was almost certainly Velázquez [br]who painted the cross.

0:30:25.110,0:30:27.933
We can only imagine[br]the immense satisfaction

0:30:27.943,0:30:30.869
the artist got from adding [br]the cross to the painting,

0:30:30.875,0:30:33.986
and therefore rubbing[br]the snobby courtier's noses

0:30:33.989,0:30:36.582
in the fact that he was now one of them.

0:30:37.242,0:30:40.361
Velázquez, who was in essence, [br]born a trade's person,

0:30:40.389,0:30:42.494
died a wealthy noble.

0:30:42.724,0:30:45.885
On his death it is said[br]that the king was heartbroken,

0:30:45.885,0:30:48.635
and the great friendship[br]that had united them

0:30:48.665,0:30:51.606
is evident in three words[br]that the monarch wrote

0:30:51.646,0:30:54.122
in a memorandum after his death:

0:30:54.382,0:30:56.259
"I am shaken".

0:30:57.801,0:30:59.921
Transcript by Margarida Mariz