Masterpieces of Diego Velázquez: Las Meninas and Las Hilanderas
Diego de Silva Velázquez: A Master of the Spanish Golden Age
Diego de Silva Velázquez (1599-1660) was born in Seville, where he learned the techniques of painting. He later moved to Madrid, where King Philip IV appointed him as the royal painter. He created masterpieces such as Las Meninas and Las Hilanderas, in which he masterfully captured aerial perspective.
The Forge of Vulcan (1630)
Theme: Mythological. This painting depicts Apollo, the god of light, informing Vulcan, the god of blacksmiths, of his wife Venus’s infidelity.
Composition: The scene is organized around Vulcan, but the looks of the blacksmiths lead the viewer’s eye to Apollo.
Light: The light seems to emanate from Apollo, creating a play of light and shadow with noticeable contrasts.
Color: There is a mixture of colors: earthy and muted tones for the blacksmiths, and bright and warm tones for Apollo.
Expressiveness: The artist captures a specific moment, carefully analyzing the expressions of surprise and indignation after the news. There is a certain irony in the subject matter.
Las Hilanderas (The Spinners) (1657)
Theme: Mythological. This artwork illustrates the legend of the competition between the Roman goddess Minerva, a weaver, and Ariadne.
Composition: It is organized on three levels: 1) Weavers spinning in a workshop, 2) An open architectural framework, and 3) The final scene, where ladies contemplate the final tapestry of the fable.
Light: The artist uses several contrasting light sources; the furthest is the brightest.
Color: The color patches are applied with a loose brushstroke.
Realism: Everyday people are treated realistically, and great care is taken in representing objects, including the movement of the wheel.
Expression: Dramatic gestures are avoided in favor of a natural attitude.
Las Meninas: A Masterpiece of Baroque Art
Full Title and Classification:
- Work: Las Meninas
- Author: Diego Velázquez (1599-1660)
- Support: The surface on which the work is made. This can be canvas, fabric, wall, etc. In this case, it is a canvas.
- Types of Painting:
- Fresco: Colors are diluted in water.
- Tempera: Colors are diluted in egg white.
- Oil Painting: Pigments are diluted in oil. Las Meninas is an oil painting.
Las Meninas was painted in 1656 at the court of King Philip IV, where Velázquez served as his royal painter. This was a moment of crisis for the Spanish monarchy, marked by the recognition of two defeats in the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659). The painting belongs to the Baroque school of Madrid, where the artist created most of his works.
Formal Analysis of Las Meninas
Subject: A group portrait featuring the Infanta Margarita accompanied by her meninas (ladies-in-waiting) and two dwarfs. The meninas were ladies from noble families who served and accompanied members of the royal family. The painting also depicts the painter himself and the King and Queen reflected in a mirror in the background.
Composition: The figures in the foreground are organized around the figure of Princess Margarita.
Lighting: Light gives volume to the figures, generating lit and shaded areas. It highlights or reduces the importance of certain elements through color.
Types of Light Sources:
- Natural: Sunlight, moonlight.
- Artificial: Candles, electric light.
- Mystical: Emanates from the figures.
In this work, the artist plays with various natural light sources to illuminate different groups of figures.
Color and Drawing: Drawing refers to the lines that delimit forms. The relationship between colors can be categorized as warm or cold, bright or muted. In Las Meninas, there is a dominance of color over drawing. The colors are applied with a loose brushstroke, and warm colors predominate in the foreground.
Velázquez’s Las Meninas employs aerial perspective, a technique developed during the Baroque period. Velázquez perfected this technique by combining different planes and using the reflection in the mirror to open the scene to the viewers.