Western Art History

Make a case in support of your textbook’s claim that Diego Velazquez’s Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor), 1656, is, “one of the greatest paintings in the history of western art.” Paying special attention to the unique and famous relationship between artist, subject, and viewer set-up by the painting, describe how and why you think the painting deserves the status your textbook bestows upon it. For this prompt you are asked to initially respond only if you agree with the textbook’s positive evaluation of this painting. For your response to a fellow student’s positing, however, you may make a case for or against the textbook and your classmate’s claims.
1. Velazquez’s Las Meninas is a 1656 painting, in the Museodel Prado in Madrid. Las Meninas (Spanish for the Maids of Honor) is a portrait of Infanta (princess) Margarita, the daughter of King Philip IV. Las Meninas is a quite exceptional and extraordinary masterpiece compared to many other pieces of 16th century. I’d agree with the textbook which claims Las Meninas is one of the greatest paintings in the history of wester art. In my opinion the key factor which turns this artwork to an exceptional piece is no viewer can simply look at this painting without noticing the fascinating illustration of space combined with an uncommon way of displaying figures. One does not simply pass by this painting without actually thinking about the concept of this painting. Viewers can freely inspect the painting from different point of views, yet the way he placed different figures throughout the painting looks strange and mysterious. I found an article which I think described these strange aspects as best so I’d like to share it here:

Infanta Margarita has dropped in to see Velazquez at work. She stops right next to him, at the center of the foreground of the painting, but she seems perplexed. Velazquez spotted Infanta Margarita’s psychological perplexity in front of the large window of his studio and analyzed her behavior. Picasso’s recreation of Las Meninas (1957) portrayed Infanta Margarita’s perplexity in a highly expressionistic and masterful manner. There is a peculiar strangeness (paradox) in Las Meninas. Infanta Margarita is definitely not posing for her portrait. Next we see that the King and the Queen are reflected in the back wall mirror of his studio. Therefore we assume that Velazquez is painting the portrait of the royalcouple who is standing behind his easel. But as we look deeper we discover that Infanta Margarita is the center of attention and focus of Las Meninas.
I also found another interesting point about Velazquez’s Baroque style combined with deeper concepts, and it’s similarity to modern art which I think might be another reason that we could conciser this artwork as an exceptional painting through the history of western art:
Velazquez’s technique of painting was inspired by Baroque. Baroque is the period and the style that used exaggerated motion in order to produce drama and tension in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music. Velazquez’s expressionistic handling of paint, his exploitation of its materiality, and his tendencies toward abstraction surpassed the boundaries of Baroque and therefore by looking deeper in his paintings we start to sense his close proximity to our Modern times.

Source: http://www.velazquezlasmeninas.com/

2. Las Meninas Dillon Kammerude 4/30/2014 9:14:54 AM
Diego Velazquez’s Las Meninas is a great piece of art. As the text says, it is great because of its visual and narrative complexity. Aside from just the technical aspects of the painting, what makes it great is the relationship it creates with the viewer. Still to this day there is no one consensus of what Velasquez is painting and that keeps people thinking about the painting, and that is part of why it is so great. Art is supposed to inspire people to think deeper into things they normally wouldn’t and that is exactly what this painting accomplishes. What is he painting? What is the subject? Why did he include the people that he did? Is he painting himself painting this piece? We can’t be sure. He has invited people to discuss his work and think about it and that part of its greatness.
PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT 🙂