Two artists : three essays : Velázquez-Picasso : Las Meninas

Abstract

Las Meninas is one of the major icons of Western Art, and generations of artists have found inspiration in its pervasive appeal. The artist chronicler Antonio Palomino (1655-1726), who was generally well informed, maintained that it was completed in 1656, and considered it Velazquez's 'most illustrious work', so rich in artistic accomplishments that it could stand on a par with the achievements of Phidias, the most famous artist of the ancient world. Its unusually complex composition, and the optical trick of the mirror that dissolves into what Michael Levey called 'a complicated game of appearances and illusion' are, in spite of their obvious meticulous calculation, deceptively spontaneous, and create a magical intimate snapshot that captures the lnfanta Margarita Teresa and her attendants in a moment of action. Nothing is posed or contrived, and everything looks miraculously natural and unaffected. Luca Giordano called it 'the greatest example of painting'. To him, this made it akin to Theology, which was 'superior to all other branches of knowledge'. He therefore described it as 'the Theology of Painting. ' Subsequent masters endorsed his judgement. The Impressionists saw in it a seminal prototype, and there is in fact a foretaste of Impressionism in the application of paint, while its freshness and anecdotal overtones look forward to Edouard Manet. [Excerpt from the Preface by Mario Buhagiar]