Las Meninas

Velázquez's "Las Meninas" (10'5" x 9'1", 1656), Spanish for the maids of honor, is one of the  most studied oil paintings in western art history (see the picture below). This painting entered the Museo del Prado, Madrid, in 1819 and has since been the most valuable art work there and, perhaps for this reason, never been lent out. I copied this masterpiece in a smaller version (5' x 4') now hung in my study (see the picture above). The painting shows the young Infanta Margaret Theresa is surrounded by her entourage of maids of honor, chaperone, bodyguard, two dwarfs, and a dog, while Velázquez is working at a large canvas. For centuries, scholars have been analyzing the painting and still haven’t settled on its meaning. For example, one ensuing mystery centers on the mirror on the back wall. Does it reflect the real royal couple in the pose they are holding for Velázquez as he paints them or a painted portrait of them on the canvas he is shown working on? Another big question: what is on the canvas that faces away from the viewers? Is it the royal couple's double portrait noted above or maybe the same picture that the viewers, you, are looking at. In the latter case, Velázquez is painting the young princess with her entourage in front of a large mirror, supposedly outside the painting, while the royal couple just enter the scene joining their daughter in admiring the painter. If this is true, you're seeing a picture in a picture in a picture... Isn't it fascinating? No wonder that Sir Thomas Lawrence once called the work as "the true philosophy of the art"!