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The Face of Spain
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Enigmas and Reflections
- Riddles in Paint
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Diego Velazquez: The Infante Philip Prosper
(Norbert Schneider)
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Velazquez
Infante Felipe Prospero
c. 1660
Oil on canvas, 128,5 x 99,5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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During the last decade of his life, Velazquez executed a series of portraits
whose intuitive insight into the "childlike nature behind the facade of regal
dignity"188 makes them possibly the most impressive of their genre.
In 1649, Philip IV of Spain had remarried. His new wife was Maria Anna, the
daughter of Ferdinand III of Austria, who gave birth to the Infanta Margarita
Teresa and Prince Philip Prosper. Velazquez painted several portraits of
Margarita. However, the only existing portrait of the heir to the throne (born
28 Nov. 1657; died at the age of four) is the painting reproduced here (now in
Vienna). The portraits of the royal children were intended for the imperial
court at Vienna. Those of Margarita were sent as presents in the course of
marriage negotiations, for she was betrothed to her mother's brother, Emperor
Leopold I, whom she married in 1666.
Velazquez was required by the court to emphasise the preeminent social position
of the children he portrayed. The portraits must therefore be viewed as official
state
portraits; they depict the regal dignity and nobility of attitude which the
royal sitters had inherited by virtue of birth. Following courtly convention,
Philip Prosper is therefore portrayed standing with his right arm outstretched,
a pose designed to recall the thaumaturgical gesture of a king. It is
nevertheless apparent that the pale, sickly-looking child, who was two years old
at the time, is unable to play - much less understand - the historical role
ascribed to him. His right hand hangs limply and weakly over the backrest of a
red, velvet-covered child's chair, on which his little playmate, a lap-dog, is
lying with its nose and one paw slightly extended.
Over his full-length dress, Philip Prosper wears a white apron hung with various
amulets whose purpose was to protect the frail little heir to the throne against
illness, a practice based on the ideas of sympathetic magic. The portrait may
have been executed on St. Prosper's day, marking the prince's second birthday.
Margarita is the main figure in a group portrait which is probably Velazquez's
most famous work of all: Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour), executed in 1656. The Infanta stands at the centre of the composition; her head,
with its silky, shoulder-length hair, is turned slightly sideways, looking out
towards the spectator. Kneeling down, with her head at the same level as that of
the Infanta, a maid of honour, Dona Maria Agustina de Sar-miento, offers the
Infanta a little pot of drinking chocolate. The other maid of honour, Dona
Isabel dc Velasco, standing a little behind and to the right of the Infanta, is
shown making a curtsey to persons beyond the picture-plane who seem to be
approaching the group and whose position is more or less identical to that of
the spectator. Maribarbola, the coarse-looking dwarf standing in the lower right
corner, seems to be glancing up at approaching persons, too (while Nicolasito
Pertusato, the other dwarf, caught in the act of kicking the dog lying on the
floor, has not noticed them). The spontaneity of the scene is accentuated by the
figure of Velazquez himself, shown stepping back from his work, his palette and
brush in his hands. Only the reverse ot the large-format canvas propped up
against his easel in the lower left of the painting is visible. Also looking out
of the picture are two shadowy figures in the middle distance, and, standing at
the back of the painting on some steps in an open doorway, the court treasurer
Don Jose Velazquez, presumably one of the painter's relatives.
It is quite possible that the figures grouped in this palace interior have
suddenly become aware of the approach of the King and Queen, whose blurred image
appears in a gleaming mirror on the wall at the back of the room (beside
paintings bv Mazo after works by Rubens and Jordaens). As in Jan van Eyck's
wedding portrait for Giovanni Arnolfini, which was in the Spanish
court collection at the time, and may therefore have been known to Velazquez,
fictional borders are broken down with the help of a mirror which reflects
persons outside the picture space.
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Velazquez
Infante Felipe Prospero (detail)
c. 1660
Oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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Velazquez
Las Meninas (detail)
1656-57
Oil on canvas
Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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Behind the Scenes
At the palace of King Philip IV of Spain
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Velazquez
Las Meninas (detail)
1656-57
Oil on canvas
Museo del Prado, Madrid
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Palaces and temples were built,
armies engaged in battle,
the elements raged -
and the King in reality is nothing
but an actor in disguise, and his throne
a make-shift chair....
Masks and makeup, deception and
pretence - this is theatre.
Adapted from Richard Alewyn's work on life at the Court of King
Philip IV of Spain,
1985
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Their numbers were legionary. Some say there were 30,000
courtesans at the Court of Philip IV of Spain. Reigning from 1621
until 1665, the monarch had to leave governing to his regent, Count
Olivares. No wonder, for in addition to women, Philip IV was an
aficionado of hunting, the arts and literature. He was particularly
fond of the theatre. Because the country was in decline, the king,
like his countrymen, withdrew into a world of illusions. However,
Philip IV did not content himself with occupying the Royal box; he
wrote plays himself, most of them comedies. When he was not busy
playing the King of Spain on the world stage, he could be admired
displaying his talents as an actor in amateur performances put on at
Court. Philip IV lived in and for the theatre. The responsibility
for designing this world of illusion devolved increasingly upon the
painter Diego Velazquez. After being called to the Spanish Court in
1623, Velazquez had a meteoric career as a Court official. The last
office he held was that of Lord High Usher of the Chamber, the
highest rank he might attain in the king's retinue. Under
Velazquez's tenure, the royal palaces were restored, enlarged and
refurnished. For each of the numerous Court revels and festivities,
among them the marriage of the Infanta Marie-Therese of Spain to
Louis XIV of France, Velazquez threw himself into the task of
designing all the decorations and curtains, stage sets and
backdrops. It was not long before he was, to put it in modern terms,
not only the Head Designer at Court but also its top-ranking
Installation Artist. Philip IV was very fond of the man who created
his dream world. He used to visit the artist in his workshop, which
was im the palace. The king also provided him with lodgings near the
royal apartments. Now an intimate friend of the king, Velazquez had
no compunction about disturbing his royal master at any time. The
painter became familiar with everything that was going on at Court
and in the royal family. How close the painter's friendship with the
king really was is perhaps shown most clearly in Las Meninas. The
scene is like a photographer's snapshot, casually anecdotal about
what was happening on the fringes of real life. The little Infanta
Margarita appears in Velazquez's studio, while the artist is
painting a double portrait of her parents, which is reflected in a
mirror on the rear wall. Responsible not only for construction work
and staging festivities, he was also charged with ensuring that
royal outings went smoothly. He saw to the linen, the firewood, the
servants, the carpeting and guests' comfort and welfare, kitchen
domestics and everything having to do with art. Overburdened by his
many duties, Velazquez collapsed and died on 6 August 1660. He was
buried in the dress and insignia of a Knight of Santiago. After his
Favourites death, King Philip IV is said to have personally taken up
a brush and altered the artists portrait. After all, when this
picture was painted, the artist had not yet become a Knight of the
Order.
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A monastery and royal palace:
El Esconal was under Diego Velazquez's administration in the 17th
century
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Velazquez
Don Balthasar Carlos
c. 1640
Oil on canvas, 128,5 x 99 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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Velazquez
Maria Teresa
1652-53
Oil on canvas, 127 x 98,5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
