Once we have already discussed this picture. But being interested not only in the history of the picture, but also in the fate of the girl depicted on it, I wanted to return to it.
Velasquez. Meninas 1656
The background of the painting:
In 1656, at the exact time the painting was painted, King Philip had no heirs. His son died, there was a dangerous war with France. And the king had no choice but to make Margaret heir to the throne. In order to somehow reinforce his difficult and risky choice, the king gave the task to Velasex: to paint a picture that would show everyone that they are obliged to accept the king’s decision, no matter how absurd it may be.
Velasquez. Portrait of the Infanta Margaret, 1653
The artist was puzzled, but still he could solve this problem - he painted a picture, looking at which one could understand that this girl, whom everyone considered a hooligan and madcap, would be the next Queen of Spain, and there is nothing terrible, nothing at all.
There are works of art that have become a mystery, immediately after their appearance. Such a work is the painting "Las Meninas".
In Spanish, "menina" means a young girl of noble birth, who is the maid of honor of the princess and is always in her retinue.
The center of the composition is the small fragile figure of the Infanta Margarita in a beautiful light dress. The girl stands with her head coquettishly turned and looks expectantly at the viewer. According to etiquette, the young maid of honor Maria Sarmiento knelt down in front of her and served a vessel with a drink.
Velazquez's sympathy is Infanta Margarita, but he not only admires the blond girl, he understands that her childish charm must wither, like a flower, in a gloomy palace, among the heavy, fettering court conventions.
She seems too serious, lonely in the large deserted rooms of the Alcazar, and something tense, doomed is read in her eyes. She has no childhood because she is an infanta. She is only 5 years old in this picture.
On the other hand, the lady-in-waiting Isabella de Velasco froze in a curtsey. To the right of the wall are the permanent members of the Infanta's retinue, her jesters: the dwarf Maria Barbola, clutching a toy to her chest, and the young Nicholas Pertusato, pushing the dog lying in front of him with his foot.
Further, a woman in a monastic robe appears from the twilight - Marcela de Ulloa, the princess's mentor, and the guards, who are obliged to accompany and protect her everywhere. in the opening open door the court noble Jose Nieto climbs the steps.
And on the left side of the picture, next to a huge canvas stretched on a stretcher, the artist depicted himself. Sad Velazquez holds a palette in one hand and a long brush in the other.
His eyes, as well as those of the Infanta Margarita, curtseyed by the maid of honor Velasco and the dwarf Barbola, are fixed on the audience. Or rather, not on them, but on that couple of people who should be on the other side of the picture and are now reflected together in the mirror opposite.
If you look closely, you can understand that the author portrayed the royal couple - Philip IV and his wife Marianne of Austria.
The strange multi-figure work was the artist’s favorite construction of the “picture in picture” composition and, of course, art connoisseurs have been trying to unravel its encrypted meaning for more than three centuries.
Maybe, just in order not to destroy the sincerity of the image of the Infanta as a whole, Velasquez depicted her prim parents with obscure spots in the mirror image? So what did you want to say brilliant artist in this picture?
Exist different versions explaining the plot of the canvas. According to one of them, Velasquez provided a moment of break while working on the portrait of the Infanta, when her ladies-in-waiting rushed to her, and the royal couple just looked into the studio to find out how things were going.
According to another, on the contrary, the painter created a portrait of Philip IV and Marianne of Austria, when the capricious princess and her retinue visited the workshop. Perhaps it was this episode that the artist captured on canvas. There are other interpretations amazing picture, but they all contradict each other and some strange details of the composition.
So, in his poems dedicated to Velasquez, Quevedo wrote: “Where is the painting? Everything seems real. In your picture, as in mirror glass.
What is the mystery of this picture?
In 1965 on x-rays another figure was found under the figure of the artist, and no one knew why this man was there, and why he was replaced.
So, initially, where Velasquez is now, there was a page in an Italian costume, who held out an object similar to a wand, or rather the royal baton of the commander in chief, to the infanta. Even in a good photo, just above the infanta's right sleeve, the girl's disguised fingers are visible, reaching out to take the wand. Look closely and you will see this hand.
THE HISTORY IS THIS:
A year after the painting, the king had a son. Velasquez's canvas immediately not only became outdated, but became dangerous! Velázquez could not reconcile himself to the fact that he should be destroyed.
He asked the king for permission to change the canvas. The painting sat facing away from the wall in his studio until he came up with a solution. And this decision can be considered in detail in the Prado Museum.
The page with the symbol of power disappeared, in its place stands the artist with the red cross of the "Order of Santiago", received only three years later, after writing the first version of the canvas, the brush hovered over the palette.
He is about to start writing this wonderful fiction, called "Portrait of the Family of Philip IV", later called "Las Meninas", or rather, is about to begin to fit into the picture of himself, who was supposed to transform an outdated dynastic portrait into a brilliant game of fun.
In the foreground of the picture lies big dog, true friend and the protector of her masters, who can always be kicked with a boot. Her image symbolizes the unenviable fate of a court painter, a brilliant creator capable of being more than just a devoted servant of his master.
Where are we on this ingenious picture are we spectators?
We are also included in the posing, as we stand in the place of the king and queen, which Velasquez painted, reflected in the mirror hanging on the wall.
What can we see?
We can see reverse side canvas and everything that depicts on it the artist-infanta, courtiers, reflection of the king and queen
The picture of Velazquez is realistic. At the same time, it is a picture, the main thing in which is transformation. Metamorphosis.
How did the fate of this beautiful girl in the picture?
Margarita Teresa married according to the established marriage tradition of the Habsburg dynasty, after long negotiations to easter 1666 for his maternal uncle and paternal cousin (cousin) Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.
Margarita -Teresa of Spain. Died at 21.
Leopold the First.
She married him at the age of fourteen, Leopold was twenty-six.
Despite the age difference and unattractive appearance Leopold, according to numerous testimonies, it was a happy marriage, the couple had numerous common interests especially in art and music. For six years of marriage, Margarita gave birth to six children, of which only the only daughter survived - Maria Antonia (1669-1692), who became the wife Maximilian II.
Maria - Antonia. Daughter of Margaret of Spain. She died at 23 and was buried in Austria next to her mother.
Velazquez's painting "Las Meninas" is like a mirror: each of us interprets its content in our own way, sees in it a reflection of our thoughts and feelings, so, standing in front of a mirror, we are able to see our reflection in it.
I would like to know your opinion about this picture. What do you agree with and what do you disagree with? What new things could you add about existing views on the content of the picture?
Plot
This is the most famous picture Velasquez. Menyns are ladies-in-waiting, servants of kings, in other words. It seems that everyone is looking at us. But in fact, everyone is looking at the king and queen, whose portrait is painted by the artist - we see their faces in the reflection in the mirror on the wall.
Infanta Margherita and her ladies-in-waiting ran into the room where Philip IV and his wife Marianna were posing for a portrait. We, the spectators, see children, as well as dwarfs and other servants, from the position of monarchs. And behind the still life is Velasquez himself. He acts here as a servant of the king, but at the same time we intuitively understand that he is the director of this scene, its organizing force.
The idea of "Menin", for all its elegance, is not new. Two centuries before Velasquez, a similar move (with a reflection of some heroes) was invented by Jan van Eyck, the author of "".
The painting "Velasquez" inspired many subsequent artists. Pablo Picasso, with his characteristic passion, wrote 58 variations on the theme "Menin".
One of Picasso's variations on the Menin theme. 1957. (wikipedia.org)
Marianne of Austria is the second wife of Philip IV. At the time of the marriage, she was 15 years old, and he was over forty. In addition, the bride was the niece of the groom. The monarch took such a step after the death of his only son (from his first marriage) and heir to the throne, Balthazar Carlos, whose bride was originally Marianna.
Her children were born stillborn or died shortly after birth. After 12 years of marriage, only daughter Margarita was only child surviving.
A healthy, beautiful infanta in the picture is an expression of hope for a future heir. In the image of a 5-year-old girl, Velazquez embodies the idea of family happiness and wealth.
Portrait of Philip IV, 1656. (wikipedia.org)
However, in subsequent years, Charles II - last hope Philip IV - born disabled. He became the last of the Habsburgs on the Spanish throne. After his death, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, bringing the Bourbons to power in the country.
The fate of the artist
Velázquez's first paintings were in the bodegones genre. These are scenes from life. ordinary people. Over time, everyday elements were combined on canvases with biblical parables - mythological and life merged. Pictures cease to be observations, they begin to convey new meanings, for the solution of which a kind of key is needed. In those days, to portray, for example, Bacchus surrounded by peasants who feast no worse than the gods, was audacity. But Velazquez was bold in his experiments, he knew how to combine dissimilar motifs so that together they looked natural.
"Triumph of Bacchus". (wikipedia.org)
The life of the artist changed in 1623. He became the court painter of Philip IV. And this meant that now his main models are the monarch, his family and court. Velazquez, of course, used, as required by the canons, a sublime pictorial language. But at the same time, he maintained the veracity of the image, did not avoid details that another artist would prefer to hide.
This is partly why Velasquez was called the artist of truth. And partly also for who he wrote, in addition to representatives high society. These were, for example, jesters, dwarfs - by the standards of the 17th century, second-class people. But in the paintings of Velasquez, they are written out as carefully as the dukes.
"Las Meninas" Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) miraculously escaped a sad fate. There is some mysticism in this. In 1734, an unprecedented fire broke out in the old palace where the painting was exhibited. About 500 masterpieces of world art perished in the hellish brazier. One gets the impression that Velazquez's canvas survived only thanks to this cleansing sacrifice brought by the all-devouring flame.
Pictures are like people: everyone has their own destiny. During civil war in Spain, a mortal threat again loomed over the canvas, but this time everything worked out, and the flames of the civil war did not incinerate this masterpiece. What an enviable vitality, what a steady desire to convey, in spite of everything, the great message of the artist to his descendants!
Another important test for this masterpiece was its isolation. The painting gained wide popularity only when it finally ended up in the Prado Museum in 1819, and before that only members of the royal family and their guests could contemplate it. It's hard to believe, but the fact remains: for 200 years, only a few people knew about the existence of the painting. She seemed to be on long years imprisoned in the golden cage of the royal residence. And then it got out! By its effect on the viewer, the canvas produces the effect of a quietly exploding bomb. It's quiet. This oxymoron is quite appropriate here. Unlike canvases, for example, his "Night Watch" (recall, by the way, that these artists were contemporaries and both wrote great group portraits), there is no sound in Velázquez's painting. In Rembrandt, on the contrary, he is depicted so convincingly with plastic means that you seem to hear the incessant drum roll and the squeal of a frightened dog. Under this cacophony, relatively speaking, the famous The night Watch. Everything is quiet with Velasquez, as it should be in the royal chambers, everything is measured and sedate. But this calmness is very deceptive.
We are in the imposing hall of the royal palace, distinguished by the severity of the situation, whose walls are hung with paintings, probably one of those that will die in a terrible fire a few decades later. Light enters this hall from two open windows on the right, the other two being closed tightly with shutters, and also through the door in the background, which is wide open.
At first glance, we have before us a self-portrait of the artist, who is in the process of working on one of his masterpieces. He is working on some unknown canvas, but suddenly his privacy is violated by a little princess who breaks into this brightly beating from the window sunlight with his retinue - maids of honor, jesters, duennas and a huge dog.
And, indeed, we, the audience, are greeted with intense looks from some of the participants in this scene, including the artist himself. And these views are directed somewhere beyond art space paintings. So, Velazquez depicts himself in the usual pose of an artist who has taken a step back from the canvas and seems to be looking at the model, as if comparing it with what has already happened on the canvas.
Everything is correct. But what is depicted on this most mysterious canvas? Maybe we also got there by some miracle? After all, our position is precisely the position of the model. It seems that the eyes of the participants in this composition are directed towards us. Or maybe the artist is only studying the Infanta herself, and he does not care about us? If so, then Velasquez can only see the girl's back, although she is clearly posing and has adopted a noble posture, and the ladies-in-waiting bowed respectfully before her. They pose for everything, including the old cracker, but Velasquez obviously does not see their faces.
It remains only to assume that in the place where the artist’s gaze is fixed and where we ourselves should be, there is large mirror, in which the whole scene of the picture was reflected. Then it turns out that what we see in front of us is reflected in the mirror, and the artist captures this reflection on his canvas. And everything would be so, but there is another mirror in the depths of the picture, where we see a faint reflection of the royal couple. Is that how Velazquez portrays them? But we already know that no double royal portrait ever existed.
So maybe mirror reflection royal couple in the background of the picture - is it just a reflection of the artist himself, a flash of his consciousness as a memory of his high patrons and at the same time a sentimental movement of the soul about the parents of a little girl, literally radiating light in the very center of this difficult composition? After all, this royal couple, like every other member of the composition, has its own unique destiny, its own life scenario, its own personal drama, its own account in the continuous struggle with fate. So, we learn that the king has a second marriage. King Philip is 30 years older than his second wife and is her uncle. Infanta Margherita at the time of writing was their only daughter. She is only five years old.
Philip IV represents the fifth generation of Habsburgs on the Spanish throne, and they always married or were married to someone from their dynasty. This led to incest within the family. His only son, Charles II, was born disabled and unable to produce viable offspring. He became the last of the Habsburgs on the Spanish throne, after his death a war of succession broke out, the Bourbons came to power in the country. The fact that there is an Infanta, that she is healthy, raises hope for a future heir. This hope is emphasized by the light falling on the princess. This hope is shared by Velasquez himself. He sees a little girl who has been laced up in a tight corset and panties. It is physically very uncomfortable for her to hold this noble pose, but she is an obedient daughter of her parents and will do everything that etiquette requires of her. This is a child deprived of childhood.
The look of the girl, as, indeed, of almost everyone in the studio, is riveted to the royal couple sitting in front of the picture. Even though this is a scam. No one stands or sits there, because if you draw a straight line from the image of the parents in the mirror and reduce it to the point where the infanta's gaze is frozen, it will become clear that the image is displaced. And if these figures are there, then they could not be reflected in the mirror. So to whom does the Infanta show how she can stand still, how can she keep herself, if not to her parents?
Before us is not a child in our modern understanding, but a small adult. If you like, this picture contains a requiem for a childhood that never happened. Velazquez did a lot of work on the image of various infants, pale, sickly girls, wrapped in panthers, in unchildish, stiff poses. The Infanta was deprived of her childhood, and that is why she looks so much like an old dwarf. The ugliness of the dwarf is a mirror image of the twisted childish soul of a little girl who was so unfortunate to be born in royal family and even in a sinful marriage of royal incest. We know that the Infanta will not live very long.
It turns out that there is no picture - and the picture is. Why? Yes, because it is doomed to eternal incompleteness. And also because we ourselves are part of its composition. Our own destinies are woven into this canvas like threads, and our own life path started here and ready here and will end when the dwarf-swindler hits the rump big dog, or Cerberus, or some other representative of the underworld.
The mysterious story of a painting. Diego Velazquez, Las MeninasClickable
In the main museum of Spanish painting Prado, there is such a picture:
This is Diego Velasquez, Las Meninas.
The plot of the picture: Once Diego painted a portrait of the Spanish king Philip IV with the queen in the Cuarto Bajo del Principe gallery of the royal palace, the restless baby infanta, impatiently waiting for her parents, burst into the room, surrounded by her retinue, and began to observe his work.
In the picture from left to right without perspective:
Diego Velazquez - artist;
Dona Maria Sarmiento - maid of honor;
Philip IV and his wife Marianna - King and Queen of Spain (in a mirror);
Margarita Teresa of Spain - Infanta;
José Nieto Velazquez - Marshal (in the aisle in the background);
Doña Isabella de Velasco - maid of honor;
Dona Marcela de Ulloa - a nun;
Dog;
Guardadamas - courtier, obliged to accompany the infanta everywhere;
Maria Barbola and Nicholas Pertusato are dwarf jesters.
Until 1965, this painting was considered an image happy life royal family.
But in 1965, X-rays showed another figure under the figure of the artist, and no one knew why this man was there, and why he was replaced.
In my opinion, an undeniable, well, maybe not entirely undeniable, but at least the most beautiful interpretation belongs to Manuela Mene, the curator of the Prado Museum, who studied the painting inside and out. Recorded and published by Jonathan Littell.
So, initially, where Velasquez is now, there was a page in an Italian costume, who held out an object similar to a wand, or rather the royal baton of the commander in chief, to the infanta. Even in a good photo, just above the infanta's right sleeve, the girl's disguised fingers are visible, reaching out to take the wand.
But how could a woman touch the baton of the commander-in-chief? It was completely unacceptable!
However, this was precisely the original purpose of the picture: to help the unacceptable become acceptable. In 1656, when the picture was painted, King Philip had no heirs. His son died, there was a dangerous war with France. And then the king decided to make Margaret heir to the throne. It was a very difficult and politically risky choice. The king went to Velaseks and gave him a task - he needed a picture that would show everyone that they are obliged to accept the decision of the king, and that this is in the order of things.
Velasquez thought for a long time and created this canvas. Everything that is written on it is written for one purpose: to make it clear that this girl, whom everyone considered a hooligan and nutcase, will be the next queen of Spain, and there is nothing wrong with that, nothing at all.
In the picture, the mirror radiates royalty, the whole room is bathed in the rays of its (power) reflection. The daughter of the king, in a pose designed to demonstrate self-control, accepts the symbols of power in front of the assembly, looking at everything quietly, calmly, happily. Even the dog does not care so much about this turning point that he fell asleep, and the dwarf playfully pushes him with his foot, trying to wake him up and force him to look.
A year after the painting, the king had a son. Velasquez's canvas immediately not only became outdated, but became dangerous! Velázquez could not reconcile himself to the fact that he should be destroyed. He asked the king for permission to change the canvas. The painting sat facing away from the wall in his studio until he came up with a solution. And this decision can be considered in detail in the Prado Museum. The page with the symbol of power disappeared, in its place stands the artist with the red cross of the "Order of Santiago", received only three years later, after writing the first version of the canvas, the brush hovered over the palette. He is about to start writing this wonderful fiction, called "Portrait of the Family of Philip IV", later called "Las Meninas", or rather, is about to begin to fit into the picture of himself, who was supposed to transform an outdated dynastic portrait into a brilliant game of fun.
As an epilogue, I want to quote a quatrain from the book "Dialogues on Painting" by Vincente Carduccio, translated by Anna Aslanyan:
On a blank slate so excellent
That has the power to see everything
Only a brush with its highest science
The ability to turn opportunity into action.
Velazquez painted portraits of the Infanta several times. 
Infanta Margherita, 1654, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Infanta Margherita, 1654-55, Louvre, Paris clickable
Diego Velasquez. Infanta Margherita. 1656.
Portrait of the Infanta Margarita in blue, Velazquez, 1659, Art.-ist. museum, Vienna clickable
Infanta Margherita of Austria, 1660, Prado Museum, Madrid clickable
He began this picture in the year of his death. It was completed by Juan Batisto Mazo de Martinez. He was a student of Diego Velasquez. In 1633 Mazo married the daughter of a Seville genius, and after the death of Velázquez in 1660, took his position as royal painter.
Infante Marguerite Velazquez did indeed write a number of them, and some of them are indeed written with a kind of built-in sign-message. So, the fan in the first picture meant reaching a certain age/status, starting from that moment, the infanta had to learn to point at objects with it (and not with her hand). And the picture with a globe on another, later portrait, meant the beginning of more serious studies (but was, of course, also a reference to the possessions of Spain in Latin America).
"Las Meninas" by Velazquez are unique both as a work of the master and as the first image hidden life yard
The court painter of King Philip IV - Diego Velazquez completed work on the painting "Las Meninas" in 1656. What kind of scene the artist depicted, art critics are still arguing. So, Paul Lefort believes that the canvas is generally devoid of a plot and is something like an instant photograph. Two other points of view are much more common. According to the first, Velasquez depicted the moment of working on a portrait of the Spanish king and queen, when their daughter, Infanta Margarita, entered the studio. According to another, the Infanta herself was the model of the artist, and her august parents came to visit their daughter. There are also philosophical interpretations. So, Walter von Loga notes in the artist's gaze devoted respect for his crowned master.
Directly opposite is the version of Alexander Yakimovich, who believes that the canvas is a manifesto of the artist's freedom from all palace conventions and restrictions. But the most interesting explanation of the Menin plot belongs to Vladimir Kemenov, who believed that Velazquez depicted a picture within a picture. He writes Las Meninas as he writes Las Meninas, from the reflection in the mirror. And there are some reasons for this. 
Infanta Margarita is the five-year-old daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and Queen Marianne of Austria. It is unlikely that Velazquez is now busy with her portrait - the huge canvas on which the artist works is in no way suitable for depicting a little girl. This size (approximately 3 × 3 m) has only one of his paintings - "Las Meninas". 
Mirror. It reflects the parents of the Infanta Margarita. The version that they are posing for the artist can also be called into question - there is not a single evidence that such companion portrait existed. The king and queen were always written separately. Yes, again, the size of the canvas in the picture is not suitable for such work. 
Diego Velasquez is the only self-portrait of the artist that has come down to us. 
The keys on Velazquez's belt are a sign that he occupies a palace position: the artist was responsible for opening and closing doors. 
The Cross of the Knights of the Order of Santiago adorns Velazquez's chest. It is known that Velazquez longed to be knighted. His dream came true three years after the end of Menin, and the artist specially painted a red cross on his camisole. Both the keys on the belt and the badge cast doubt on the version that Velázquez rebelled against palace mores. 
Meninas. Meninas were called young girls-maids of honor. On the right is Dona Isabel de Velasco, on the left is Dona Maria Agustin de Sarmiento. 
Paintings on the far wall of the hall. On the right - "Apollo skinning Marsyas", on the left - "Athena and Arachne". In both mythological stories tells how the Olympian gods punished daring mortals who decided to compete with them in the fine arts. Velasquez depicts himself against the background of these paintings at the moment of inspired work. According to Yakimovich's supporters, this is how he opposes himself to the heroes of mythology and emphasizes the artist's right to complete freedom beyond any restrictions - both heavenly and earthly. We agree that this does not fit well with the view of Velasquez as an obsequious subject. 
Jug. If the royal child wanted to drink, then according to etiquette, a vessel with water was brought to him by a page. In our case, this is Doña Maria. She is on one knee and hands Margarita a silver tray, on which is a small jug made of red bucaro clay. 
Duenna (mentor) of the Infanta Dona Marcela de Ulloa. She wears semi-monastic clothes as a sign of mourning for her dead husband. 
Guardadamas - a courtier who plays the role of an honorary escort of ladies. 
Don Jose Nieto Velasquez - possibly a relative of the artist, the marshal of the court - the senior butler of the palace. 
Maria Barbola is the infanta's favorite dwarf. 
Nicolasito Pertusato is a dwarf jester.
The plot of the picture: once Diego painted a portrait of the Spanish king Philip IV with the queen in the Cuarto Bajo del Principe gallery
royal palace, the restless baby infanta, impatiently waiting for her parents, burst into the room, surrounded by
retinue, and began to observe his work.
Diego Velázquez Las Meninas (Ladies of Honor), 1656 Prado Museum, Madrid
In the picture from left to right without perspective:
Diego Velazquez - artist
Doña Maria Sarmiento - lady-in-waiting
Philip IV and his wife Marianna - King and Queen of Spain (in a mirror)
Margherita Teresa of Spain - Infanta
José Nieto Velasquez as Chamber Marshal (in the aisle in the background)
Doña Isabella de Velasco - lady-in-waiting
Doña Marcela de Ulloa - nun
Dog
Guardadamas - courtier, obliged to accompany the infanta everywhere
Maria Barbola and Nicholas Pertusato - dwarf jesters
Until 1965, this painting was considered a depiction of the happy life of the royal family.
But in 1965, X-rays showed another figure under the figure of the artist, and no one knew why this
the person was there and why he was changed.
The undeniable interpretation belongs to Manuela Mene, the curator of the Prado Museum, who studied the painting inside and out. Her
recorded and published by Jonathan Littell.
So, originally, where Velazquez is now, there was a page in an Italian costume who held out an object to the infanta,
similar to a wand, or rather a marshal's baton. Even in a good photo, right above the right sleeve of the infanta are visible
the girl's camouflaged fingers reaching out to take the wand.
But how could a woman touch the baton of the commander-in-chief? This was completely unacceptable!
However, this was precisely the original purpose of the picture: to help the unacceptable become acceptable.
In 1656, when the picture was painted, King Philip had no heirs. His son died, there was a dangerous war with
France. And then the king decided to make Margaret heir to the throne. It was a very difficult and politically risky
choice. The king went to Velasex and gave him a task - he needed a picture that would show everyone that they owe
accept the decision of the king, and that it is in the order of things.
Velasquez thought for a long time and created this canvas. Everything that is written on it is written for one purpose: to make it clear that this
the girl who everyone thought was a hooligan and a nutcase will be the next queen of Spain, and there is nothing in it
scary, nothing at all.
In the picture, the mirror radiates royalty, the whole room is bathed in the rays of its reflection. King's daughter in a pose
designed to demonstrate self-control, accepts the symbols of power in front of an assembly that looks at everything quietly,
calm, happy. Even the dog is not so worried about this turning point that she fell asleep, and the dwarf playfully
pushes her with his foot, trying to wake her up and make her look.
A year after the painting, the king had a son. Velasquez's canvas immediately not only became outdated, but became
dangerous! Velázquez could not reconcile himself to the fact that he should be destroyed. He asked the king for permission to change
canvas. The painting sat facing away from the wall in his studio until he came up with a solution. And this solution can be
see details in the Prado Museum. The page with the symbol of power has disappeared, in its place stands the artist with the red cross of the "Order
Santiago", received only three years later, after writing the first version of the canvas, the brush hovered over the palette.
He is about to start writing this wonderful fiction, called "Portrait of the Family of Phillip IV", subsequently called
"Menins", or rather, is about to begin to fit itself into the picture, which was supposed to transform the outdated dynastic
portrait into a brilliant fun game.
Infanta Margherita
