Meninas, Las

Diego Velázquez: Las meninas

Las meninas, painting by Diego Velázquez completed about 1656.

Las meninas (“The Maids of Honour”) shows Velázquez late in his career and at the height of his powers. Few works have excited more debate than this painting. The size and subject matter place it in the dignified tradition of portraiture familiar to Velázquez’s contemporaries, but the subject of this portrait is unclear. Velázquez shows himself at the easel in his studio in Madrid’s Alcázar Palace, with the five-year-old Infanta Margarita and her entourage in the foreground, other courtiers elsewhere in the picture, and the king and queen reflected in the mirror on the back wall. Is Velázquez painting the royal couple as they pose beyond the easel, or is he painting Margarita, who has been surprised by her parents’ entry into the room?

This seemingly “casual” scene has been very carefully constructed using extensive knowledge of perspective, geometry, and visual illusion to create a tangible space, but one with an aura of mystery, where the spectator’s viewpoint is an integral part of the painting. Velázquez shows how paintings can create all kinds of illusions while also showcasing the unique fluid brushwork of his later years. Just a series of daubs when viewed close up, his strokes coalesce into a richly vivid scene as the spectator pulls back. Often called “a painting about painting,” Las meninas has fascinated many artists, including French Impressionist Édouard Manet, who was especially drawn to Velázquez’s brushwork, figures, and interplay of light and shade.