The Spanish Golden Age of flourishing arts and literature in Spain coincided with the Spanish Empire’s political and military dominance in the 16th and 17th centuries, roughly during the reigns of the Habsburg monarchs Charles V, and the Philips II, III and IV of Spain. In literature, Cervantes was writing Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605) and Lope de Vega was knocking out about 500 plays and 3000 sonnets between the 1580s and 1630s. In art, El Greco, Francisco de Zurbarán and Bartolomé Murillo flourished, as well as the leading artist of them all, Diego Velázquez, who worked under the patronage of King Philip IV between the 1620s and 1650s.
Velázquez’s earliest works are bodegones, kitchen or pantry scenes with prominent still-lifes and domestic activity such as his Woman Frying Eggs (1618) which I remember being taken with many years ago during a visit to the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. However, it was when he took to portraiture that he gained the attention of King Philip and was invited to become court painter. Diego was able to thrive under Philip’s wing for the rest of his life. He provided portraits for the court (he painted Philip himself over thirty times) and for luminaries of the time such as Pope Innocent X, but was also given the freedom to paint less prominent personalities such as Juan de Pareja, a former slave and fellow painter in his workshop.
His magnum opus, however, was Las Meninas (The Ladies-in-waiting or Maids of Honour). Painted in 1656 and now residing in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Las Meninas depicts the 5 year old Infanta Margaret Theresa surrounded by her entourage of maids of honour, chaperone, bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog. Just behind them, Velázquez portrays himself working at a large canvas and looking outwards towards the viewer. In the background there is a mirror that reflects the upper bodies of the king and queen themselves. Given the expectation that a court painting would be a formal affair, Las Meninas’ complex and enigmatic composition surprises us and creates an uncertain relationship between us and the figures depicted. Because of its unusual nature, Las Meninas has been one of the most widely analysed works in Western painting, and it’s one of “the greats” that I hope to visit one day.
