“Las Meninas” — A new interpretation

“There are no hints, you look and don’t understand

what’s happening, yet your sense organs respond.

You don’t understand why, but you have something.”

A.Dolin

Introduction.

Unsolved mathematical problems, the layers of meaning in a painting and Nature’s mysteries exist in our world in enormous quantities. A new and fresh view on long-ago known facts and phenomena is capable of creating or giving rise to new facets of understanding. Even if this notion will be wrong, however, perhaps it could become a foundation for criticism, and in turn, act as a trigger for a new discovery and awareness of reality.

Two great paintings.

The fresco, “The Last supper”, by Cosimo Rosselli, and the painting, “Las Meninas”,by Diego Velasquez.

The idea to compare the two great art works appeared mostly by chance. However, there is a certain logic at play here. In short, it looked like this:

-Pope Sixtus IV , who invited artists to paint frescoes, was one of the most educated men in the world. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be Pope in one of the most intellectual world centres.

-When he invited an artist to paint the chapel he certainly had a purpose: what he wanted and why.

-Of all summoned painters, Cosimo Rosselli received the prize.

There are a variety of slightly silly explanations. For example, the Pope didn’t know much about art, and it was only because Rosselli covered the fresco in gold that he received the award and etc. But we are going to leave such simplifications for limited minds.

Let’s ask ourselves the question of how and why a very educated person of one of the richest cities of Europe decided that Rosselli should win the prize? And this has an Explanation… but we are going to focus on that issue in a separate article, where there is going to be an analysis of Rosselli’s idea and symbolism, which was highly recognized.

-And specifically after a detailed examination of Rosselli’s fresco, I by chance had the opportunity to have a look at Velasquez’s painting, “Las Meninas”, which was also honoured with much praise from the patron:

• first, he depicted himself in the painting almost the same as with the princess;
• -second, in 1659, Philip IV awarded Velasquez with the highest award, the Santiago Order;
• -third, he placed the Cross of St. Jacob on the painter’s chest in “Las Meninas”, with his royal hand.

-Order of Jacob, of which Velasquez became a knight, was one of the most powerful orders in Europe. Therefore, in an intellectual sense, the artist was living and working in the same intellectual milieu as the Pope. Without a doubt, Velazquez, through communication with other members of the order, could have been acquainted with numerous concepts and be involved in their intellectual discussion. Consequently, with high probability, one of the most educated persons in the world couldn’t simply have created a painting without any symbols and messages.

“Las Meninas”

There is a feeling that the great attention surrounding the painting is based on a deeper meaning, which supposedly is explained and revealed in numerous research papers. Perhaps this profound understanding was intuitively felt by many other painters, and therefore, that explains why they continued to interpret and recreate “Las Meninas” in their own manner, as if to remind us to “look closer”.

In my opinion “Las Meninas” could have the following deeper meaning:

(Explanation): it appears to be an allusion to the subject of “The Last Supper”, and in a wider sense, the theme of sacrificing an individual for the sake of redemption of the sins of the people or humanity, yet also include the theme of betrayal from a “close one”. In that sense, the painting by Velasquez, “Las Meninas”, and Rosselli’s fresco, “The Last Supper”, are the bearers of these two concepts. Regarding Rosselli’s “The Last Supper” the issue of the betrayal of Christ by Judas and his future crucifixion (sacrifice) is evident, but in relation to “Las Meninas” it’s not as visible at first glance and during the 364 years of its existence. 

Innocent victim: the Infanta is a child who can’t make her own choice since by birth she is destined to be the Queen and consequently to serve her people. Of course, it could be said that it’s a privilege to be a Queen, as well as very exciting. However, first, when it’s ascribed by birth and there is no opportunity to resign it’s not as glorious as it may seem; second, by knowing the history and fate of the royal families, with high probability they’re going to end up either killed or imprisoned. That’s the reason why serving and being in charge of a medieval kingdom, could be equated with the role of “carrying the cross” for the sake of one’s own people, or “drinking from one’s own cup”. The Infanta has a small drinking vessel, while Jesus has a cup on the table.

-In addition, the paintings behind the Infanta, “Pallas and Arachne” by Rubens, and “Apollo as Victor over Pan” by Jordaens, indicate the theme of an innocent victim. In both paintings Arachne and Marsyas endure an undeserved punishment.

Betrayal: here, the parents play the roles of those who betray or subject their beloved child to danger and sacrifice. And if to compare compositionally, both parents and Judas are respectively confronting the Infanta and Jesus. Moreover, in “Las Meninas”, the parents are positioned closer to the viewer, looking at the Infanta; therefore the traitor and the victim are placed opposite each other.

-Perhaps the audience fills the role of Judas, the traitor; and if that is the case then the mother and father stand for the pair of Apostles. The meaning of this composition is the following — the audience is comprised of people who usually betray those who they praise.

-If the parents are traitors, then such a concept can be applied to all parents as a warning — do not betray your children. However, you can become a traitor if deprived of choice. That is if you assign a specific role beforehand, and your child becomes the victim of either ideas or circumstances.

-It’s possible that Velasquez didn’t portray Judas because he doesn’t appear in the “The Last Supper” frescoes created by other painters.

Composition of the painting “Las Meninas”, and the fresco “The Last Supper”. Both the fresco and painting imply the audience as active characters. In “Las Meninas” this notion is emphasized by the royals standing on the same level as the spectator. In the fresco, which was created for the Pope, the main invisible viewer is the Pope himself, which is implied by the tray in the foreground. (This idea can be developed in the next article)

-Pairing of the figures and dualism in both art works is evident.

(It’s possible to look in further detail at the concept, but in brief: Jesus-Judas, 4 pairs of the Apostles having a discussion, and 3 pairs by themselves. “Las Meninas” has its own pairs; however, this theme was analyzed in other research papers.)

-The number of main figures in the fresco is 13; in “Las Meninas” there are also 13, including the dog and the figures in the paintings. In that sense there could be other reflections, but in terms of the idea this may not be significant; most importantly, the direction is defined. It wasn’t possible to clearly name 13 figures in a row, however, this was an obvious indication. Nevertheless, it seems that Dali let it slip and supposedly helped, when in his interpretation of “Las Meninas”, instead of people he wrote numbers, and it’s clearly visible that the dog was counted as well. It’s possible that this is at symbol of the sleeping St. John the Evangelist.

-The idea that the viewer is also an integral part of the painting is discussed in detail by Michel Foucault in his book, Words and Things (Chapter 1 — “Ladies of the Court”).

Colour scheme. The Infanta is presented by the central white spot; therefore it is the only source of light on the painting, not including the door at the back, or the bright future and sky). She is the only one with blond hair. In a sense, this light symbolizes Christ’s sacred nature and innocence.

Conclusion.

“Las Meninas” is “The Last Supper”, where the Infanta represents Jesus.

Through encrypting such meaning, Velasquez hoped to win great respect in the eyes of Philip IV , who could be expected to be very flattered by an analogous comparison in the ardent Catholic country. This might explain both the high prize and the bestowal of the title, and it might also indicate that the Infanta was in fact the personification of the child Jesus, which was almost one of the most recognizable religious symbols in Spain. I don’t think that this could be connected as an honour to the great painter without the painting having more profound meaning.

In conclusion, I’d like to add that it’s likely that the analysis of Rosselli’s fresco, “The Last Supper”, pushed me to this analogy, and most importantly, toward the meaning and symbolism of the fresco. Theoretically speaking, such an intellectual process might be triggered by any of the existing frescoes or icons depicting “The Last Supper”.

I can’t help but note the book by Michel Foucault, “Words and Things”, in which the author draws X: “its upper left point is the artist’s eyes, and the right one is the eyes of a courtier, below the left point coincides with the corner of the canvas (more precisely, with the support of the easel), and right — with a dwarf (his feet in a shoe on the back of a dog). At the intersection of these lines, in the center of X — the eyes of the Infanta” (P. 50, Michel Foucault, Words and Things, 1994).

An interesting question, for me, did Foucault realized that the Infanta is Jesus, or he just saw the letter X?

June 2020