On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01174
- Author
- Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y
- Title
- The Family of Felipe IV, or Las Meninas
- Chronology
- Ca. 1656
- Technique
- Oil
- Support
- Canvas
- Measures
- 318 cm x 276 cm
- School
- Spanish
- Theme
- Portrait. Royal/Imperial
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- RoyalCollection
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
A portrait of the infanta
Margarita, daughter of Felipe IV
(1605-1665), surrounded by her
servants or “family” in a hall of
Madrid’s Alcázar Palace.
This, the most famous of
Velasquez’s works, offers a complex
composition built with admirable
skill in the use of perspective,
the depiction of light, and the
representation of atmosphere.
There have been innumerable
interpretations of this subject and
later references to it. The most
numerous emphasize a defense of the
nobility of painting versus craft.
Velasquez portrays himself,
painting the painting itself, on
the left of the canvas, thus
affirming the supremacy of the art
of painting. The infanta Margarita
(1651-1673), wears white and
appears in the center of the
composition, surrounded by her
ladies in waiting, the “meninas”
maría Agustina de Sarmiento and
Isabel de Velasco, along with two
court buffoons, maría Bárbola and
Nicolasito Pertusato, and a
mastiff. Behind her, the duenna
Marcela de Ulloa converses with the
quartermaster, José Nieto, who is
in the doorway.
The King and Queen, Felipe IV and
Maria de Austria (1634-1696) are
reflected in the mirror at the back
of the room, leading to series of
extraordinarily complex spatial
relations.
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