Masterpiece Analysis: Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez

Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez

Work: Las Meninas (1656).
Author: Diego Velázquez (1599–1660).
Support: The surface on which the artwork is done; it can be canvas or cloth, table, wall, or roof. In this case, it was painted on a canvas.

Technical Characteristics

• Color: Color stains are applied with a loose brush.
• Realism: The figures are treated as everyday people. There is also great care in representing objects, including translating the movement of the wheel.
• Expressiveness: Avoiding exaggerated dramatic gestures and focusing on normal attitudes.
• PS: Leave the wheel.

Technique and Style

There are three main groups of techniques:

• Fresco painting: Pigments diluted in water.
• Tempera: Pigments diluted in egg white.
• Oil painting: Pigments are diluted with oils. Las Meninas was made using oil.

Historical Context

Las Meninas was created in 1656 in the court of King Philip IV, where Velázquez served as the royal painter. This was a moment of crisis for the Hispanic monarchy, located chronologically between the recognition of two major defeats in the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659). The style belongs to the Baroque school of Madrid, where the author produced most of his works.

Formal Analysis

Topic

A collective portrait of the court. It is accompanied by the Infanta Margarita, meninas, and dwarves. Las Meninas were ladies of noble families who served as accompaniment to royal family members. Additionally, you see the painter himself and the Kings reflected in a mirror at the back of the stage.

Composition

In this painting, the figures standing in the foreground are organized around the figure of the Infanta Margarita, where the lines are concentrated and where the incidence of light is greater.

Lighting

Lighting is used to give volume to the areas, generating more enlightened figures and others that are shaded. It emphasizes or reduces the importance of color. The types of light sources include:

• Natural: Solar light or a full moon night.
• Artificial: Candlelight, electricity, a fire...
• Mystique: That which emerges from the figures, as in the case of the god Apollo in The Forge of Vulcan.

In this work, the author plays with various natural light sources and lights the groups of figures differently. The main light stems from the windows located on the left side and falls smoothly over the figures in the foreground.

Drawing and Color

The drawing consists of the lines that demarcate the