Las Meninas

VELAZQUEZ, Diego
Las Meninas
1656
Oil on canvas
10'5" x 9'1"
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Last summer, I had the opportunity to travel around Spain with my aunt. It was absolutely amazing to go for so many reasons: 1) I hadn't gone to Europe in a really long time, since I was probably too young to enjoy it, 2) It was Spain! I could practice Spanish, 3) Culture, culture, culture. I could go on and on, but I am going to hold myself back for the sake of a short-ish blog entry :)

One of the many famous paintings that we saw was "Las Meninas" by Velazquez, while visiting El Prado in Madrid. I can't say that I had heard of it before going to Spain, but once stepping into the museum its reputation precedes it...and it's popularity was evident in the crowds of people standing before it. I managed to get this picture - for some reason in El Prado they let you take pictures of the paintings, as long as there was no flash (Most of the other museums we went to completely banned it. I wasn't going to complain though).

First thing to notice: The painting is HUGE (!!), I couldn't get it into one picture. So as a disclaimer, I'm not going to pretend to know anything about art history for the sake of describing this painting accurately, because really...I know nothing about this stuff. For a very art-history-oriented description, check out this review or this one, with more of a focus on Velazquez. From the audioguide, this is what I remember: This painting describes a scene that actually took place - a painting being painted. Velazquez is seen on the left hand side, paintbrush in hand. The focus of the painting is the infanta Margerita, who has come into the room while her parents (the King and Queen) are being painted by Velazquez (you can see their reflection in the mirror hanging on the back wall). She is surrounded by two of her 'Meninas', which basically means handmaid or lady-in-waiting. On the lower right-hand side are two entertainers of the court: the dwarfs.

Insert here: moment of dramatic silence.

I always thought that the dwarfs were randomly chosen to entertain the Spanish aristocrats, and disturbing as that is, just left it at that. According to Dr. Taylor (one of my favourite professors in the Faculty of Medicine and U of T!), the King selectively mated the dwarfs to propagate a population of dwarfs for the sake of their entertainment. Just a little disturbing, no? Maribarbola, the female dwarf standing closest to la infanta Margerita, had achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism where they have a normal size trunk with short limbs. Apparently this is the most common type. The other dwarf (introduced as the court jester in the audioguide), Nicolasito, had a growth hormone deficiency as his limbs and features are in proportion with the rest of his body. Just another example of how science can define itself in so many different disciplines, and also how Velazquez lives up to his reputation of the ultimate realistic painter :) I love it.