Artistic Comment Of The Meninas De Diego Velázquez

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Artistic Comment of the Meninas de Diego Velázquez

 

Las Meninas is an oil on canvas belonging to the Baroque and made approximately 1656 by Sevillian painter Diego Rodríguez da Silva and Velázquez. This artist was born in Seville in 1599 is the son of a Portuguese and a Sevillian and from an early age begins his career in the art world. With only ten years he becomes part of the Herrera El Viejo workshop, but shortly after he will become part of Francisco Pacheco’s apprentices who will become his father -in -law since shortly after obtaining the title of Master Pintor he will marry theDaughter of the same, Juana Pacheco. After her wedding he decides to go to try his luck in the capital where he will end his days holding several important positions. His artistic production has been divided into several stages according to the theme of his paintings and the modification of his techniques. 

His first stage focuses on the learning period of the artist established even in Seville, at that time his productions are naturalistic that entails great realism sometimes even showing the ugly and unpleasant to the human eye, this needs great thoroughness and detail on the partof the painter in addition to its separation from Renaissance idealism. It is based. From this period we have some religious works such as San Juan de Patmos (1618) where naturalism is appreciated especially on the saint’s face. It also has popular works, but in which it also appears, even in the background the religious theme as is the case of Emaus dinner.

The old frying eggs is another popular or domestic scene where Velázquez’s perfection is appreciated when performing the kitchen and food utensils since it seems almost a photograph more than a picture for its realism. In 1622 he travels to Madrid where he performed the portrait of Luis de Góngora that catapults him in his pictorial career because the excellence of this work makes him shortly after he is appointed painter of the Court, thus initiating his portraitist work. He will then make real orders such as the decoration of the Alcazar’s halls and shortly thereafter in 1628 he made his first trip to Italy motivated by Rubens, who had visited the capital that same year.

In the works of this period we see how tenebrismo disappears giving way to new elements such as the attempt to capture the air perspective based on the depth and the introduction of more luminous and clear tones, as can be seen in works such as the forge ofVulcano. In 1631 he returns to Spain and continues with his work as a real painter returning portraits where he includes as in the portrait of Prince Baltasar Carlos, dwarves whose treatment is exceptional due to his solvency when making visible the condition of his dwarfism, but also toThe time it portrays them, dignifies them because it introduces them to something so important and so reserved, although less and less, like art.

In 1649 he was sent by the King to Italy for the purchase and copy of some works, it is at that time when he performs the papal portrait of Innocent X in which we appreciate how Velázquez thanks to the psychological and physical study he does is capable of capturing the characterof the Pope. From this trip, his painting is modified and derived to increasingly loose brushstroke. Again when he returns to Madrid he focuses on the portraits and it will be in this context when he performs Las Meninas.

Las Meninas, as has been said before, is an oil on large canvas (320’5x 281’5 cm) where the Infanta Margarita is represented along with their honor ladies, the rest of the palace servers, their parents and theOwn Velázquez, this with the cross of the Order of Santiago of which he became part of a year before his death in 1659 year in which the canvas would already be finished and therefore the cross would be added later.

If the work is observed in detail, we realize that the infanta parents appear in a mirror, so they would be in the same position as the spectator of the work while Velázquez who is just in front of them would be painting them and the infantaand his meninas would break into the room where painting is carried out, so it would be a way to represent one scene inside another, but with harmony where the action is interrupted as if it were a photograph. In this picture made by the artist shortly before death we can see that we are in the final phase of his paintings since the characteristics of the canvas belong to this stage. We are faced with a great naturalism and visible realism in the faces of the characters which are tried to be faithful, as we have mentioned, Velázquez wise to capture very well both the physical and psychological aspect of those represented, sometimes even showing figuresNot very pleasant, with some ugliness or deformity as is the case of dwarves, but with great realism for which you have to do them with great detail.

The volume is also important, we see how in spite of evolving to more loose brushstrokes without defining the details, the volume can be seen perfectly even in the darkest areas of the painting such as the mirror where the kings appear the different volumes are distinguished. As for the treatment of light we see how there are two main spotlights one to the right of the spectator who seems to come from a vain and the other focus would be the door located in the background where José Nieto appears. We see how the artist has been clarifying his palette since the tones used in the clothes of Las Meninas and the infant are clear tones and even the red tones have been clarified and it is not the brown red used in paints of the tenebrismo.

But Velázquez’s great achievement is the aerial perspective, this technique is to give a feeling of depth to the work through blurring the figures as they move away from the viewer making them less distinguishable as it would happen if we really met in that space,In Las Meninas it is perfectly seen by the treatment that makes the pictures located at the top of the background of the back. The so -called Pentimenti also appears in the leg of Nicolasito dwarf so the artist could have regretted the initial position and rectify more flexing the leg and not as rigid as it would appear initially at first.

 

Bibliography:

  • Anguita Herrador, R. (2004), Spanish Baroque art. Edition Editions. P.105-150.
  • Belda, c., Martín González, J.J., Morales Marín, J.L., Rodríguez de Ceballos, to., Sebastián s., Tovar Martín, V., Valdivieso, e. (1997). The centuries of the Baroque. Akal. P. 221-237.
  • Prado National Museum, recovered from https: // www.Prado Museum.is/collection/work-of-art/las-meninas/9fdc7800-9ade-48b0-AB8b-Edee94ea877f?SEARCHID = DAE3C60C-B62B-F693-B700-D1C309EEDA62
  • Viñales González, J.M. (2006). History of modern art. Volume III. UNED. P. 199-213.

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