Velazquez: paintings with names and descriptions

When mentioning the golden age of Spanish culture, first names such as Miguel de Cervantes and Diego Velasquez are recalled . Velasquez paintings adorn the exhibition halls of Russia, Great Britain, the USA, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Austria and, understandably, Spain.

The Place of Velasquez in World Painting

Japanese engineers invented a machine that calculated which of the world's artists has the greatest weight and significance for mankind. She put points in many different categories. The highest score for all categories was scored by Rafael. He won first place. The second was occupied by the Spanish painter of the 17th century Diego Velazquez. His paintings are kept in the most famous museums in the world. Three canvases are in the State Hermitage, however, one - with a controversial attribution.

In this article, we will dwell in detail on only two works written by late Velasquez - paintings with the names "Menina" and "Pryakhi". They are presented in the two lower photos.

The heyday of the Spanish Empire

Velasquez was born in 1599, and died in 1660. This is the period when Spain rules the world. The boundaries of the empire stretched far beyond one continent. In addition to colonies in Europe, Spain dominated over the territories located on the American continents, in Africa, Asia and Oceania. The process of seizing and annexing the land was so rapid that it became a major problem and the main task of the Habsburgs to retain control over them. The development of the colonies, the assertion of domination over them, the establishment of new rules in the annexed territories had a surprising effect on the way of life of old Spain. There were new secular rituals, a fashion for clothing that stitched the movement, politically grounded incestuous dynastic marriages.

The magic of the two later works

Many interesting things about the era, we might not know and do not understand, if not for Velazquez. The artist's paintings shed light on a lot of interesting facts from the life of the Spanish nobility and the common people of that time. They also encoded the details of the artist's biography. In this context, two works, written in 1656 and 1657 by Diego Velasquez - pictures of Meninas (Maid of honor) and Pryachi, or Myth of Arachne (The Tapestry Factory of Santa Isabel in Madrid) are extremely interesting.

The visual-psychological effect produced on people by these canvases, the natural size of which is 318x276 and 222.5x293, can be defined by the word "eerie". The best reproductions do not give an objective idea of what these two pictures really are. Description Velazquez infanta Margarita with his retinue in the first case and the company is sprawling in the second create the illusion of the audience in the artist's studio or in the spinning.

The manner of work of the great Spaniard

Velazquez painting wrote in a special manner. He practically did not make extra smears, sketches, sketches. This fussy work he spent in his head. Therefore, many had the impression that he did not strain at all. Standing, watching, like, drinking water ... Maybe he forgot about work? Not at all. Returns to the easel and makes some confident smears. His plan becomes evident only after the completion of the work. Not even so. His paintings are very diverse. They can be sorted out infinitely long - too many meanings in them are hidden.

Meninas

Art historians believe that in this picture Velasquez portrayed himself. Some argue that he is the person who stands behind the easel and holds a brush and a palette in his hands. Others are sure: Velasquez is a man in the doorway. Who is right and why did this confrontation arise?

The fact is that the artist in the painting on his chest - the cross of the Order of St. Iago, and Velazquez it was not yet. He could not paint it before appropriation, nor after. Before - it's unethical, after - it's impossible, because the picture to him no longer belonged. If we assume that the cross was painted by Philip himself, it still does not fit the concept of the picture. Imagine it without this red sign - the balance of the whole image is broken, the weight of the picture rushes to the upper left corner. The master of composition could not allow such a mistake.

In addition, pay attention to the palette. If the person holding it in his hand draws what is in front of him, then why do not the colors of the colors match? Suppose that this is himself Velasquez, a portrait of the royal couple? But it is known for certain - Velasquez has never had pictures, where Philip is portrayed with his wife, Marianne of Austria.

Whom does this artist draw? What do those who hold the view that Velasquez himself and the person surrounded by light in the doorway are the same person?

First, follow the direction of the hands of dwarfs, after tilting the heads of the maid of honor and the infant, extend the line of the palette - they converge on the person in the doorway.

Secondly, if you imagine that a person in the doorway has a brush in his hand, but outside the picture, where the king and queen are, and where the viewer is, that is, you and I, hang a large mirror, the reflection will correspond exactly All that is depicted in the picture.

Thirdly, do not forget that the picture is very large. So, if you look closely at the face, you can see that this person is very similar to the man from "Portrait of a Young Man", "Breakfast", a Roman portrait and "Surrender of Breda", only at different ages. What was the point of Velasquez's painstaking arrangement of the plot to write, even a high-ranking one, but only a courtier? It turns out that the king with the queen and the Infanta pose for the sake of their subject? Absurd.

And further. Initially, near the easel was depicted infanta Maria Theresa, and the grandee with a brush peeked from behind her shoulder. Erase an infant and portray yourself with a nonexistent order, in a very proud and unnatural for the painter's pose, and those present and posing Philip and Margarita are only far reflections in the mirror? Is it possible?

Refined revenge?

It seems that the artist laughed at a certain grandee, exposing him as a man engaged in the painter's work, which is disgraceful for a nobleman. Court intrigues, envy and meanness of nobles could make Velasquez think of such a plot for a group portrait of the infanta Margarita, whom he loved very much, often painted and depicted in this painting with great love. She's very sweet. The girl is only five years old, but the signs of degeneration - the result of related marriages - are already noticeable: a rickety forehead, thin hair, large transparent eyes. To prevent this from appearing in the eyes and causing hostility, Velasquez placed next to the girl her teacher - dwarf Mari Barbolu.

It is a great honor to appear in one picture with the monarchs, but to be imprinted in the role of a person who performs the despised mechanical work of the painter is an indelible disgrace for the grandee and all his descendants. The dilemma ... Such is the revenge of Velasquez to the courtier who repaired him of envy to a brilliant career, for the artist, among other things, is also the Quartermaster of His Majesty's Palace.

"Spinning"

What can I say about the next painting, which Velasquez, 58, wrote at the end of his life? "Spinning" (the description of the picture deserves much attention, since it depicts only women) - this is a portrait of the artist's three favorite women. They are depicted in the foreground, in the center of the picture. The myth about Arachne, which surpassed the skill of Athene and turned into a spider for it, is strangely projected on women who played a very large, perhaps the main role in the artist's life. A high-ranking courtier, a nobleman whose line on the line of his father begins with Aeneas Sylvia, who was the grandson of the ancestor of the Romans, a knight, the cleverest man ... But above all Velazquez is an artist. The paintings created by him contain a great many mysteries, but they contain the answers to them.

Love in the fate of the painter

Why are these women in simple dresses, without beautiful corsets, crinolines and thick collars? He does not want them to feel constrained by the uncomfortable fashion clothing of those years? Does it cost them their health and well-being? Or maybe he shows that they are free and happy enough that they can not strive to meet the strict requirements of etiquette? Are they more powerful than the gods, since they brought him to the heights of fame and career? Probably. But, like Arachne, he is turned into an insect and, like him, eternally weaving a cobweb, should be chained to the royal court with his eternal undercover intrigues, cunning, and intrigues until his death. And there is no end to this, and there is no rest. This is only one of the interpretations of the plot of the picture, which he wrote three years before the death of Velasquez.

The paintings he wrote in the late period are full of mysteries, which are very interesting to solve. They are pushing to study history, and this is a very useful activity.