4. VELÁZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y
Las Meninas
1656
Oil on canvas, 318 x 276 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Las Meninas is one of Velázquez`s largest paintings.
"Las Meninas" is a Portuguese word used to name the Maids of Honour of the Royal children in the 17th century.
5. Las Meninas or The Family of Philip IV it was painted in 1656 in the Cuarto del Príncipe in the Alcázar in Madrid.
Shows the Infanta Margarita who is attended by meninas María Agustina Sarmiento and Isabel de Velasco.
We also see the artist, the dwarves Mari Bárbola and Nicolasito Pertusato with his mastiff,
to the lady-in-waiting Marcela de Ulloa next to a guardadamas,
and the chamberlain José Nieto standing in the doorway in the background.
Reflected in the mirror are the faces of Philip IV and Mariana of Austria, who are watching the scene taking place.
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8. Velázquez
On the left in the painting, dark and calm, the painter Velázquez standing with brush and palette in front of a tall canvas.
On his chest is the red cross of the Order of Santiago, which he did not receive until 1659, three years after the painting was completed.
Philip IV ordered this to be added after Velázquez's death, "and some say that his Majesty himself painted it".
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14. King Philip IV and Queen Mariana of Austria
A mirror on the back wall reflects two figures identified as King Philip IV and Queen Mariana.
The children of Philip IV and his first wife Isabel de Bourbon were dead by the date of this painting,
except for the eighteen-year-old Infanta María Teresa, who is not shown in this group.
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20. Don José Nieto Velázquez, chamberlain
On a flight of steps stands Don José Nieto Velázquez —the queen's chamberlain, responsible for the separation and selection
of the rooms for the members of the royalty and of the location of the offices and bedrooms for the palace residents.
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26. Doña Marcela de Ulloa, the lady-in-waiting
next to a
unidentified guardadamas (bodyguard)
Almost swallowed up in the shadows, a unidentified guardadamas - a guard or escort to the ladies –
and the doña Marcela de Ulloa, the princess' chaperone, dressed in mourning .
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32. Doña María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor, menina
Doña María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor, who kneels before Margaret Theresa,
offering her a drink from a red cup, or bucaro, that she holds on a golden tray.
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38. Margaret Theresa of Spain, Infanta
Philip married Mariana as his second wife in 1649, and at the time this picture was painted
the five-year-old Infanta Margarita was her only child.
Engaged from a very early age to her uncle, the emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1666, at the age of 15 years old,
she married by proxy.
The moved to Vienna, capital of the Empire, where she died at the age of 21 years old while giving birth to her fourth child.
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44. Doña Isabel de Velasco, menina
Doña Isabel de Velasco is poised to curtsy to the Infanta ...
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50. Maribarbola, the dwarf German
The royal court jester Mari Bárbola (María Bárbara Asquín) ...
Achondroplastic dwarf of German origin, who entered the palace in 1651, the year of the birth of the Infanta.
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56. Nicolas Pertusato, the dwarf Italian
Nicolasito Pertusato, Italian dwarf of noble origin, possibly affected by a lack of growth hormones,
tries to rouse a sleepy mastiff with his foot.
Was the king’s valet and it is known that he lived until he was seventy-five years old.
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61. Solomon, mastiff
Solomon, sleepy mastiff of Nicolasito Pertusato, Italian dwarf.
The dog is thought to be descended from two mastiffs from Lyme Hall in Cheshire, given to Phillip III
in 1604 by James I of England.
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69. Art in Detail_ VELÁZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y
Las Meninas
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