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Las Meninas
Diego Velázquez · Baroque & Dutch Golden Age
- Artist
- Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599–1660)
- Date
- 1656
- Dimensions
- 318 x 276 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
Las Meninas (The Ladies-in-Waiting) shows the young Infanta Margarita Teresa surrounded by her maids, a chaperone, two court dwarfs and a dog, in a large room of the royal palace in Madrid. To the left, Velázquez himself stands at an enormous canvas, brush in hand, looking out at us.
A closer look
The painting is a puzzle about looking. In the mirror on the back wall appear the faces of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana, who must be standing exactly where the viewer stands. Is Velázquez painting them, while the princess has come to watch? At the open door in the background, a courtier pauses on the stairs, adding another layer of depth. Light enters from the windows on the right and falls softly on the little girl at the centre, making her the heart of the composition.
History of the painting
Las Meninas hung in the royal Alcázar of Madrid until Christmas Eve 1734, when a great fire destroyed the palace; the painting was rescued from the flames, though it suffered some damage. It entered the Prado soon after the museum opened in 1819 and has been its most famous work ever since. In 1957 Picasso painted 58 variations on it, now in the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, and a careful cleaning in 1984 removed yellowed varnish to reveal Velázquez's silvery light again.
More by Diego Velázquez
In this gallery
The Surrender of Breda
Portrait of Innocent X
Old Woman Frying Eggs
The Rokeby Venus (The Toilet of Venus)
The Spinners (The Fable of Arachne)
Portrait of Juan de Pareja