What is known about the most famous girl in Spain from Velazquez's painting "Meninas"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For over 350 years, Meninas have captivated art lovers around the world. This intricate painting by Diego Velazquez is a detailed representation of life at the court of King Philip IV of Spain. In addition, this 1656 masterpiece continues to inspire contemporary artists, making it perhaps one of the most important paintings in the entire history of Western art. The main character of the picture is the 5-year-old Infanta of Spain - Margarita Teresa, who received the widest fame precisely after the canvas painted by Velazquez.

About the artist

Diego Velazquez was born in 1599 in Seville. At first he specialized in still life and genre scenes. He then continued his studies, studying Flemish and Italian painting, as well as the works of Zurbaran, Ribera and El Greco. In 1623 Velazquez became the court painter of Philip IV. An exceptional gift in painting allowed Velazquez to breathe new life into the genre of love art. On the artist's canvases, the characters have become more alive, more sensuality and emotionality appear.

Diego Velazquez was a key figure in Spain's Golden Age, a period of flourishing art and literature. This cultural explosion took place in parallel with the rise of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. The prosperity of the royal court and the expansion of the Spanish Empire played a positive role for an artist like Velazquez, whose career began at the court of King Philip IV.

Meninas

The Meninas is a painting that is now part of the collection of the Prado Museum and is the most famous of Velazquez's extensive work. He wrote it in the summer of 1656. At the time of the completion of the picture, he was already 57 years old. It was one of the most monumental and curious paintings. There are few works in the history of world painting that have so many interpretations. The Meninas represent a turning point in art history as Velazquez redefined the tough, regimented portraits of the royal court.

In portraits regularly commissioned by members of the royal family, he supported the traditional gestures and accessories of a court portrait, but revolutionized their pictorial embodiment. Velasquez's use of free brush strokes to create texture and clothing was new. The large canvas depicts the Infanta Margarita Teresa, the king's daughter, surrounded by ladies - menin, after whom the painting is named. Velazquez also depicted himself at the easel painting her portrait.

The plot of the canvas is simple and charming. The artist's courtier Velasquez depicted himself for portraying the sovereigns of Spain Philip IV and Marianne (they are reflected in the mirror behind Velazquez). Posing is a long process. And, of course, visitors have repeatedly entered the workshop without interrupting the creative process. On the canvas, the painter decided to depict the moment when 5-year-old Margarita, daughter of Philip IV, entered.

As we can see, she is accompanied by her retinue: ladies-in-waiting (meninas), dwarf jesters entertaining the princess, a large dog, a man in black (guardadamas, who accompanies the princess everywhere). Next to the man is Marcela de Ulloa, the assistant to Margarita Teresa. She was responsible for caring for and looking after all the maids who surrounded Infanta Margarita.

One of the menin, kneeling as required by the rules of the palace, offers the girl a drink. Two jesters - Barbola from Germany and Pertusato from Italy - appear on the right side of the canvas. Pertusato's leg is on the dog's back. This is a breed of the Spanish Mastiff. Jesters played an important role at the court of Philip IV and Velazquez reflected them in his many court portraits. And on the stairs outside the door is another man - the court marshal Jose Nieto Velazquez (the artist's namesake, who has no family ties with him). The red cross on the chest of Velazquez himself is a symbol of the Order of Santiago, a respected religious and military society, where the artist was admitted in 1659 by a decree of the king.

The main character of the picture is called the most famous girl in Spain - this is the royal daughter, the five-year-old Infanta Margarita.

Margarita Teresa

Infanta Margarita Teresa is the main character of the famous canvas and the whole plot literally revolves around her. And it was Velasquez who glorified her throughout Spain. Infanta is the title of princess of the royal houses in Spain.

Margarita Teresa was born in 1651. Given the closely related marriages in the dynasty (which was considered normal at the time), the girl was born very weak. Margaret's parents - King Philip IV of Spain and Maria Anna, daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III - were each other's uncle and niece with a huge age difference (her mother was 30 years younger than her father). Margarita was one of 12 children of the royal couple and one of the few who survived to adulthood.

According to contemporaries, Margarita Teresa had an attractive appearance and a cheerful disposition. Her parents and close friends called her "little angel". The Infanta was very fond of sweets, which had to be constantly hidden from the huge number of maidservants around her (they took care of the health of her teeth). Margaret's father and maternal grandfather Emperor Ferdinand III loved her very dearly. In his personal letters, King Philip IV called her "my joy." At the same time, Margarita was brought up in accordance with the strict etiquette of the Madrid court and received a good education.

Margarita Teresa's marriage

In the second half of the 1650s, at the imperial court in Vienna, the need arose for another dynastic marriage between the Spanish and Austrian branches of the Habsburg house. Therefore, almost immediately after the birth of Margaret, representatives of the court entered into an agreement on the marriage of the girl with Emperor Leopold I, who was her maternal uncle. Leopold was 11 years older than Margarita. Exceptionally business-like dynastic decision. Many believed that whoever marries the princess would eventually inherit the vast dominions of the King of Spain. Since the young people lived in different countries (Spain and Vienna), from time to time they sent each other their portraits. And Velazquez had the opportunity to paint as many as 6 portraits of the Infanta.

Margaret Teresa and Leopold I got married in 1666 (the girl was then only 15 years old). The festivities held in the Austrian capital on the occasion of the imperial marriage were among the most magnificent in the entire Baroque era and lasted almost two years. Many art historians claim that the princess was happily married and that their love was mutual. And this, as you know, is a great rarity for dynastic marriages of that era. The couple had many common interests, especially in art and music.

Poor health and poor heredity played a role. Margarita Teresa passed away at the age of 22 during her fourth pregnancy. Four months later, the widower emperor - despite his grief over the death of his "only Margaret" (as he remembered her), entered into a second marriage with the Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, a member of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Habsburg. The people of Spain continue to remember and love their little princess, and the magnificent canvas by Diego Velazquez helps to preserve this memory.