History of Art: Baroque and Rococo

Baroque and Rococo

Diego Velazquez

		Baroque and Rococo Art Map

		Velazquez - The Face of Spain (Text by Norbert Woif)
		CONTENTS:
		From Kitchen to Palace
		The Psychology of Power
		A Humane Equilibrium (The Surrender of Breda)
		Enigmas and Reflections - Riddles in Paint (The Fable of Arachne, Las Meninas)
		Picasso's studies of Las Meninas
		Life and Work

The Face of Spain

	Enigmas and Reflections - Riddles in Paint
	The story goes that when Velazquez died, the king had *Las Meninas* brought to his deathbed and with his own hands added the cross of the Order of Santiago to the court painter's clothing in red paint. This is only a legend, of course, although the sign of the order was indeed added later, since the artist was not knighted until 1659. However the cross came to be added, there is an artistic density in this painting that can probably never be fully explored and is therefore certain to produce more new interpretations in the future. We know that Velazquez was qualified to wear the red cross of Santiago on his cloak over clothing adorned with silver lace, and to carry a valuable dagger at his side and wear a heavy gold chain with a scallop shell set with diamonds around his neck, by the time he mingled with the dazzling company that assembled on the Isle of Pheasants in the river Bidassoa on the Spanish-French border on 7 June 1660, to celebrate the wedding of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, to the Spanish princess Maria Teresa. Towards the end of his life Velazquez had brought both his career and his art to the zenith of achievement. Despite the riddles hidden in the painting of *Las Meninas* we must not overlook its artistic mastery, particularly as expressed in the figure of the Infanta Margarita surrounded by people of lesser birth. For it was on the princess that the dynastic hopes of the Spanish Habsburgs rested after the death of Prince Baltasar Carlos. A portrait of the Infanta is one of the last works Velazquez painted (1659; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum). It was sent to Vienna, to the German Emperor Leopold I, to whom the princess was betrothed, and with it went the portrait of *Prince Felipe Prospero*, also painted by the master in 1659. The young prince was a sickly child from birth, and he died at the age of four. He appears in this picture in a pink dress trimmed with silver, with a translucent pinafore over it, and bearing some striking accessories: various amulets were supposed to protect him against the evil eye, and an amber apple was thought to ward off infections. The bloodless face of the blue-eyed prince looks even paler due to the contrast with the silver highlights in his straw-coloured fair hair. Pale daylight falls in through the open door in the background. Otherwise, the room is full of shadows that seem to threaten the little figure. Palomino considered this portrait one of the finest ever painted by Velazquez, and singled out the little dog on the chair for special praise. This portrait of the prince is the first in which Velazquez expresses a strong sense of sadness, as if he guessed that he himself would not paint many more pictures: no more divine figures and kings, no hidalgos, dwarfs and jesters, no more popes and saints, and no more simple, ordinary folk -with all of whom he had filled his canvases, turning the same intensity and sensitivity on each of his subjects. Velazquez died on 6 August 1660. One of the greatest figures in the history of art was laid out in the Alcazar, wrapped in the cloak of the Order of Santiago. He was buried by night in the church of San Juan Bautista, and many noble and royal dignitaries attended the solemn funeral service. His wife survived him by only a week, and was buried beside him. There is nothing left today of either the church or the grave of Velazquez. But we still have his pictures.

Velazquez
Las Meninas - Infanta Margarita (detail)
1656-57
Oil on canvas
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Velazquez
Portrait of the Infanta Margarita
c. 1660
Oil on canvas, 121 x 107 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Velazquez
The Infanta Don Margarita de Austria
c. 1660
Oil on canvas, 212 x 147 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Velazquez
Infanta Margarita
c. 1654
Oil on canvas, 128,5 x 100 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

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The World of Las Meninas

"One wants to do this thing of just walking along the edge of the precipice, and in Velazquez it's a very, very extraordinary thing that he has been able to keep it so near to what we call illustration and at the same time so deeply unlock the greatest and deepest things that man can feel"

Francis Bacon

It seems almost impudent to subordinate the great work of Velazquez's maturity to an early work, but nothing can reduce the impact of Las Meninas, which many critics consider the greatest painting in the world. The wonder of its actuality, its ability to transcend time and involve us in the world Velazquez has created, its mystery and immediacy - these elude verbal explanation. Perhaps, above all others, this is a painting that must be seen and experienced to be understood.

The Marriage of
Infanta Maria-Margarita-Teresa
and Louis XIV -
The Sun King of France

Velazquez
Las Meninas or The Family of Philip IV

At one level, this picture is easy to read: the painter, Velazquez himself, stands at the far left, at the center is the little princess, the Infanta Margarita-Teresa, with her maids clustered around her, her tutors, page, and dwarf in attendance, and her gigantic dog. From the dog we work our way up by stages to the distant reflection of the king and queen.

Various Studies of Infanta

(Infanta's reincarnations)

Velazquez
Infanta
Margarita-Teresa
Las Meninas, detail
1656

The five-year-old daughter of King Philip IV of Spain, the Infanta Margareta-Teresa, stands in the centre of the canvas surrounded by her retinue of maids and dwarfs. Velazques has depicted himself on the left of the canvas, painting a huge portrait of the King and Queen who canbe seen reflected in the mirror directly behind the Infanta's head.

Picasso's Las Meninas

Picasso's studies of Las Meninas

Velazquez
Las Meninas

Picasso
Cannes, 17 August 1957
Barcelona, Museu Picasso

From 17 August to 30 December 1957, Picasso did a series of 58 very different large-scale oils related to Las Meninas.
Picasso took an interest in this work for various reasons. Velazquez was and still is considered one of the major figures in European art. Picasso had considered himself one of this company too ever since the directors of the Louvre invited him to hang works of his own alongside major works in the collection in order to establish the stature of his art through the comparison.

Velazquez
Las Meninas

Picasso
The Whole Group
2 October 1957

Velazquez
Las Meninas

Picasso
The Whole Group
19 September 1957

Viewed at close quarters, the fluid, seemingly hasty brushmarks, have an abstract, almost arbitrary quality. But as viewer steps back to take in the whole scene, these patches miraculously assume the solid structure of the child's arm enclosed within the gauzy fabric of her sleeve.

Velazquez
Las Meninas, detail
1656