the maids of honor by Diego Velazquez

This huge portrait of Princess Margarita, daughter of Philip IV, King of Spain, is a virtuoso performance in paint. With his flickering brushwork, Diego Velázquez created a scene filled with glowing light and brilliant textures. The painting is as complex as it is beautiful because it also includes portraits of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana reflected in a mirror on the back wall, portraits of the Princess’ courtly coterie (including her favorite dwarfs and mastiff), and a self-portrait of the artist standing in front a large canvas – perhaps Las Meninas, the painting we are viewing. There are many interpretations of this work of art, all of which are as complicated as the painting itself. Certainly, before anything else, it is a portrait of the princess; however, one scholar suggested that the image also functions as an artistic self-portrait. The red cross on the artist’s coat is the emblem of the Order of Santiago. Velázquez added it years after the painting was completed when the King finally allowed him to join the religious order. Artists normally were not knighted because they worked with their hands. In this painting, Velázquez engages his intellect as he pauses before the canvas. Perhaps this painting was part of his campaign to join the Order of Santiago. MARIA CALVO 2ºA