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surrender is carried out with dignity unlike in the conventional representations of the glorification
of the victors and the disgrace of the conquered.
After the second trip to Italy (1649-51) Velazquez painted his most complex imaginary picture,
based on the myth of Arachne, The Weavers, c.1656. The central scene, the moment when Minerva
turns Arachne, a mortal girl who challenged the goddess of spinning and weaving to a contest, into
a spider — is depicted in the background. In the foreground the weaver's workroom is produced so
convincingly that in later centuries this painting was taken for a large genre scene. The emotion of
the workshop, the spinning of the wheel, the handling of the tale as an ordinary event, make this
painting one of the most outstanding of Velazquez's mythological works.
Velazquez's masterpiece, and one of the most extraordinary paintings of the seventeenth
century is Las Meninas (The Ladies-in-waiting), of 1656. It was initially titled The Portrait of the
Family. The painter is depicted in his studio in the royal palace, at work upon a canvas, so large that
it can only be this very picture, unique in scale in his entire production. In the centre the light falls
on the glittering figure of the five-year-old princess, who has paid the painter a visit, accompanied
by two ladies-in-waiting, one of whom kneels to give her a cup of water. On the right two dwarfs
are portrayed; one is gently teasing with his foot an elderly dog. Through the open door in the
background wall light falls on a court official, pausing for a moment, on the steps. Most important
of all the mirror alongside the door reflects the King and Queen. who also honour the painter with
their presence. Despite the apparent ease and informality of the subject, the picture is carefully
balanced in a series of interlocking pyramids that can be ranked with the greatest designs of the
Renaissance. In light and dark the illusion of the picture is as real as the intimate and quiet mood.
Velazquez's brush suggests the reality of objects through the sparks and reflections of light on hair,
silk, flowers and embroidery, spots of light and colour set down by touches of the brush create the
illusion of form. Las Meninas is the culmination of Velazquez's work. In this painting the artist
demonstrates to all time the nobility of his art - a rank that no king can award.
Velazquez had no immediate followers, but the painters of succeeding centuries such as Goya
and Manet highly esteemed him.
Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:
Velazquez [
]; Madrid [
]; Seville [
]; Philip [
];
Mediterranean [
]; crown [
]; Order [
]; Santiago [
];
Chamberlain [
]; Arachne [
]; Goya [
]; Manet [
]
NOTES
Triumph of Bacchus - "Вакх"
Surrender of Breda - "Сдача Бреды"
The Weavers - "Пряхи"
Las Meninas - "Менины"
TASKS
I. Read the text. Make sure you understand it. Mark the following statements true or false
1. For twenty years Velazquez painted King Philip IV and members of the royal family and
court.
2. Velazquez adopted the characteristic machinery of allegorical figures, utilized by most
Catholic painters of the seventeenth century.
3. Velazquez's Triumph of Bacchus contains numerous reminiscences of the Nertherlandish
masters.
4. The Surrender of Breda is a work of universal importance.
5. In The Weavers the central scene is depicted in the foreground.
6. In Las Meninas Velazquez shows the nobility of his art.
II. How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions?
1. Where was Velazquez trained? What position did he obtain at the court?
2. Whose works did Velazquez distaste and whose paintings did he admire? What did
Caravaggesques realism mean to Velazquez?