Annotated Mona Lisa, The - Strickland, Carol.original_ [46]
Whether portraying the king or a court dwarf, Velázquez presented his subjects with dignity and, in all cases, factuality. His approach humanized the stiff, formal court portrait tradition by setting models in more natural poses without fussy accessories. Although a virtuoso in technique, Velázquez preferred understatement to ostentation and realism to idealism.
WORLD’S GREATEST PAINTING
In a 1985 poll of artists and critics, Velázquez’s “las Meninas” (“The Maids of Honor”) was voted, by a considerable margin, “the world’s greatest painting. ” Picasso paid it homage by doing a series of forty-four variations on the work. Velázquez took seriously Leonardo’s dictate, “the mirror is our master, and tried to approximate what he sow as closely as possible, often working years on a canvas.
The painting was ostensibly a royal portrait of the five-year-old princess Margarita, attended by her ladies in waiting and two dwarfs. With the diverse additional portraits, it is also like a group painting of the subject: “Visitors to the Artist’s Studio. ” In the middle ground is a mirrored reflection of the king and queen, in the background a full-length portrait of a court official on the steps.
Critics have speculated Velázquez was playing with the idea of the ambiguity of images, including many versions of portraiture, even on the left a self-portrait of himself in the act of reproducing this very scene from a mirror. His skill was such that all the images seem equally convincing, whether indirect (mirrored reflections and paintings of paintings) or “direct” portraits.
“Las Meninas” shows Velázquez’s constant concern with design and composition. Although the figures seem informally grouped, the composition actually consists of a carefully balanced series of overlapping triangles. He used only the lower half of the canvas for portraits and filled the space above with a range of light and shadow to produce the illusion of space. Firm verticals and horizontals keep the viewer’s eye from getting lost in the room. In 1650, a connoisseur of art said of Velázquez’s work that, while all the rest was art, this alone was truth.
Velázquez, “Las Meninas,” 1656, Prado, Madrid. Velázquez created forms through color and light rather than through lines, achieving startlingly real images of the human figure.
On his friend Rubens’s advice Velázquez visited Rome to study Renaissance and Classic masters in the Vatican collection. While there, he painted perhaps his finest portrait, “Pope Innocent X.” The sitter’s sharp glance was so lifelike — almost predatory — the pope declared it “troppo vero” (too truthful).
Although Velázquez is considered a master of realism, he achieved his effects with loose brushstrokes that, when scrutinized at close range, seem to melt into blurred daubs of paint. As the contemporary Spanish writer on art Antonio Palomino said, “One cannot understand it if standing too close, but from a distance, it is a miracle! ”
To accomplish this “miracle,” Velázquez dabbed quick touches of paint with which to suggest reflected light. An Italian painter exclaimed of his work, “It is made of nothing, but there it is! ”
THE TOP 10
In 1985, a panel of art experts for the Illustrated London News judged “Las Meninas” as “by far the greatest work of art by a human being.” The following is a list of the winners and how they placed:
THE VELAZQUEZ ARTISTIC TREE
Because Spain was artistically isolated, Velázquez’s work was not widely known until the nineteenth century. Then, his brilliant brushwork, which captured the visual world with an almost hyperrealism, inspired painters seeking to break free of the academic straitjacket. The tree shows some prominent artists directly influenced by Velázquez.
La Tour, “The Penitent Magdalen,” c.1638-43, MMA, NY. The first important