名畫LAS MENINAS

Las Meninas






圖片參考：http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Velazquez-Meninas.jpg/300px-Velazquez-Meninas.jpg


Las Meninas

Diego Velázquez, 1656

Oil on canvas

318 × 276 cm, 125.2 × 108.7 inches

Museo del Prado, Madrid
Las Meninas (also known as The Maids of Honour), painted in 1656, is a work by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. It is one of the most famous paintings in the world, and is in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. Luca Giordano said of Las Meninas that it was, itself, the "theology of painting"; Sir Thomas Lawrence, that it incarnates the philosophy of art.[1]



Description
The picture was inventoried at Palacio Real de Madrid under the title "The family picture". In 1843, Pedro de Madrazo catalogued it for El Museo Del Prado as Las Meninas, following the description of Acisclo Antonio Palomino de Velasco (1655-1726), in his Museo pictórico.[1] Menina ("girl" in Portuguese) came to mean "maid of honour" in the Spanish court.
This painting depicts the Infanta Margarita, the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and the eldest daughter of his second wife, Mariana of Austria, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting, her dwarf, and her mastiff, while Velázquez is seen standing at his own easel.
This is a composition of enormous representational impact. The Infanta Margarita stands proudly amongst her maids of honour, with a dwarf to the right. Although she is the smallest, she is clearly the central figure; one of her maids is kneeling before her, and the other leaning towards her, so that the standing Infanta, with her broad hooped skirt, becomes the fulcrum of the movement. The dwarf, Maribarbola, is about the same size as the Infanta; by comparison Margarita appears delicate.


圖片參考：http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8b/DiegoVelazquez_MeninasDetail.jpg/180px-DiegoVelazquez_MeninasDetail.jpg


On the left in the painting, dark and calm, the painter himself can be seen standing at his vast canvas; this is one of the best self-portraits of Velázquez.
Above the head of the Infanta, the ruling couple is reflected in the mirror. A courtier stands in the doorway at the back of the room.
The point of view of the picture is at least approximately that of the royal couple. The spatial structure and positioning of the figures is such that the group of maids around the Infanta appears to be standing on "our" side, opposite Philip and his wife. Not only is the "performance" for their benefit, but the attention of the painter is also concentrated on them, for he appears to be working on their portrait. Although they can only be seen in the mirror reflection, the distant images of the king and queen occupy a central position, both in terms of composition and content.
As spectators, our position in relation to the painting is uncertain. Are we excluded from the scene, with the ruling couple in our place? In this interpretation, the painting is completely hermetic, a hermeticism further intensified by the fact that the painting in front of Velázquez is completely hidden from our view. Or are we standing beside the royal couple, to the real king's (not the reflected one's) right? This would explain the spectator's not appearing in the mirror at the back, but also raises the possibility that the spectator is intimate, at least spatially, with royalty. In 17th century Spain, this would have been a provocative suggestion. The fact that three of the figures - Velázquez, the Infanta and the dwarf - appear to be looking directly at the spectator rather than to our left where, presumably, the royal couple is standing, lends weight to this interpretation.