Velázquez - History Lab

Inocencio X

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:03 +0000

Velázquez’s masterpiece, executed during his second trip to Rome. His fame led to his being commissioned to paint this portrait of the Pope, which, being so realistic, displeased the pontiff. It is interesting for understanding the artistic influences between Italy, Spain and Flanders, as well as the diplomacy and exchanges between the main European courts. Portraits such as this one have also left a lasting impression on artists of the 19th and 20th centuries (Impressionists, Picasso, Bacon)

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The Venerable Mother Jerónima de la Fuente

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

Velázquez’s portrait of Jerónima de la Fuente was painted just prior to her departure on a long journey that would last a year and three months and take her to the farthest reaches of the Spanish empire to found the first convent of Poor Clares in Manila (Philippines). In the numerous convents in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries, women of different aspirations and conditions coincided. Many of them were forced to profess because their families did not have the resources to provide them with sufficient dowries for marriage, but the convent could be an opportunity to develop a personal project outside marriage and motherhood, as well as to learn to read and write. Some of them, through their work, foundations and evangelisation, managed to become an active part of the culture of the time, such as Mother Jerónima de la Fuente. On her arrival in the Philippines, she fought to defend the admission of mestizas and women without dowry into the convents, gaining the appreciation of the people by putting the evangelising aim above all considerations of race, creed or economic resources.

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The spinners

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

Velázquez’s work depicts a craft workshop made up of women. In the foreground are the spinners, women of the village who occupy the most important place in the representation, where three generations are shown participating in the work of spinning and reeling the wool. Their bodies convey activity and liveliness as they cooperate in a manual task. In the background are three upper-class women, one of whom focuses her gaze on the mechanical workers. In the 17th century, spinning wheels and spinning were poorly paid jobs that supplied the needs of the weavers’ guilds. Although Velázquez depicts the interior of a possible tapestry factory, the spinning work did not take place inside the factory, but in the house-workshops. At that time, the ordinances of 1561 prohibited women from joining the guild (historiographically increasingly disputed), although their presence in the workshops continued. The master’s wife took over the spinning and was assisted by other women from the age of 12, as they were considered servants since they were denied the status of apprentices.

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Old woman frying eggs

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:14 +0000

Velázquez’s composition is set in the interior of a shallow kitchen with a strong contrast of light and shade. An old woman in a white dress cooks a pair of eggs floating in oil in an earthenware dish on a cooker (some authors have described them as poached, although they are clearly being fried). With a wooden spoon in his right hand and about to crack the egg, the moment of maximum tension in the action is captured, together with the arrival of the young man, thus proving to be a particularly baroque scene. The artistic study of the objects has been carried out in detail due to the interest of the optical effects sought by the Sevillian artist. Special attention should be paid to the fact that this type of painting was executed during the painter’s first period in his native city, which would tell us about the way Sevillian society functioned at the beginning of the 17th century.

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The mulatto

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:14 +0000

The scene takes place inside a Sevillian house in the early decades of the 17th century and depicts a mulatto maid with various kitchen utensils that reflect the way in which domestic spaces were set up. It should be remembered that at that time only wealthy families were allowed to have a maid. In the portrait, the maid is depicted wearing a loose-fitting dress that bears little relation to the fashions of the day, as well as a coarse, coarse fabric that reveals a lower social status than that of her masters. Various utensils such as jugs, bowls and a mortar and pestle for pounding garlic are arranged on the table, a fact that underlines the type of basic foodstuffs used in 17th-century Sevillian households.

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The Royal Cloth

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:14 +0000

Philip IV and his courtly circle are hunting a wild boar in a forest clearing in one of the most common courtly practices. The monarch is depicted on horseback in the centre of the composition carrying a spear intended for hunting while accompanied by the Count Duke of Olivares and probably his two brothers. Wild boar hunting was an expensive as well as traditional practice that marked special occasions when the king hunted the animal within the boundaries of a canvas. This painting by Velázquez was intended for the Torre de la Parada. This image is an excellent resource for an insight into the leisure and festive celebrations of the Court in the Modern Age.

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The three musicians

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:14 +0000

The work, executed by Diego de Velázquez during his early period, belongs to a genre of genre painting that Pacheco nevertheless described as “ridiculous figures with various ugly subjects to provoke laughter”. The men with musical instruments sing while the third, the youngest, who carries the vihuela under his arm with a glass of wine, calls attention to himself with a mocking smile, implying that the spirituous concoction is what inspires the musicians. The monkey, on his back, was a typical animal companion at the time. The setting for the musicians’ performance would indicate the presence of a table with a loaf of bread on a napkin, wine, cheese and a knife before them, which Velázquez uses to study the different textures with an intense, projected light that evokes the classical concepts of chiaroscuro. Special attention should be paid to the fact that paintings of this type were executed during the painter’s first period in his native city, which would tell us about the way Sevillian society functioned at the beginning of the 17th century.

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Commented work: The Forge of Vulcan, by Velázquez

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:16 +0000

Within the collection of educational videos for children created by the Prado Museum “Audioguías infatiles Museo del Prado” is a collection of explanatory videos about different works on display in the Prado Museum itself. This collection of videos includes an animated representation of the Infanta Margarita based on her portrait in Velázquez’s Las Meninas, which explains the most important aspects of the work and its historical context. This 2.12-minute video focuses on Vulcan’s Forge, a work created during the stay in Italy of its author Diego Velázquez.

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Commented work: Las meninas, by Velázquez

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:16 +0000

Within the collection created by the Museo del Prado “Audioguías infatiles Museo del Prado” is a repertoire of videos explained for children of different works of the museum. The animated representation of the Infanta Margarita from her portrait in Velázquez’s Las Meninas explains the most relevant aspects of the work and its historical context. On this occasion, the 2.20 minute video focuses on the painting Las Meninas or The Family of Philip IV, one of the best-known masterpieces in the Prado Museum collection.

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