The painting “Las Meninas” is a painting of the Spanish royal family along with a few other people and dog, was one of the most revolutionary pieces of art of it’s day.
The artist, Diego Velazquez, painted “Las Meninas” back in 1656 and it was a major departure from more traditional royal portraits, because it breaks with tradition and features not only the royal couple, a nun, dwarf and princess but also the artist himself. Pretty ballsy.
The portraits of the period would previously only have featured members of the royal family and in such works there was considerably more structure and the hierarchy as to placement of each of the members. Well, Velazquez thought otherwise and did it his own way, in a new way.
At the time Velazquez held the position of palace chamberlain in the Spanish royal court, a position which allowed him considerable leeway in comparison to other artists of the day.
Plus it looks kind of cool, even for today.
A.G. Munson
