You Get to be Royalty
Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez
Description
This is where I would insert 200 words describing the art piece. I would talk about the 3 different kinds of light that are present in this picture. One of these lights allows us to see what the focus of the peice is, the little princess. How the composition implies that the viewers of this scene are the king and queen reflected in the mirror. The way that the people are set up allows our eyes to roam through the painting and out the back door with the man leaving the room.
A Well Known Piece
This is where I will 200 words of information I researched about the piece. For example, I will talk about how this is one of Velazquez's most famous pieces. How he was one of the first portrait painters at this time that painted royalty as a human being. It is also unique because it gives us a behind the scene view of what we think is a portrait painting session with the royal family. The artist has painted himself into this piece as the artist. Critics are unsure if the artist is painting la infanta, the princess in the middle, or the King and Queen standing where the viewers are located.
Social Class Commentary
This is where I will place my thoughts and questions about the piece in 200 words or more. I wonder if the artist was making some sort of commentary about the viewers of the painting. We are placed in the spot where the king and queen are standing. Is trying to abolish social class? or imply that normal people are just as worth painting as royalty because we are the subject of the painting in this piece. Do you think that the artist is painting us/the king and queen or the scene that we see before us?
