Are you in or out?

 

The more that visual art I look at, the more I realize that I am drawn to complex, detail orientated paintings.  Therefore, it is not a surprise to me that the piece that I chose to analyze this round is a genre painting titled Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez between the years 1656-1657 in Madrid. 

The title Las Meninas can be translated as: The Maids of Honor.  Since the painting is a genre painting, it represents a scene of everyday life of the artists’ subject (Source).  The only question here is, who is the artists’ subject?

The first person I pick as the main character of this painting is the little girl in the middle.  I say this because she is simply closest to the center of the photograph. Other reasons I think she is the subject of this piece is because of the lighting.  The technique of theatrical tenebrism, in which the main subject of the piece is illuminated against a darker background, was widely used during the Baroque era (Source); as the little girl is much brighter than other areas of the painting I believe theatrical tenebrism is being used to portray her importance in the painting.  I found the name of the child to be Infanta Margarita, later to be known as Margarita Theresa of Spain, who was the daughter of the King and Queen of Spain.  She, despite her apparent young age, is betrothed to get married to her maternal uncle and paternal cousin Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor in order to maintain her position of the throne and pass her throne to her descendents.  They would marry in 1666, so about 10 years after this painting was completed when Margarita Theresa was the prime age of 15 (source). 

However, Margarita Theresa of Spain may not be the center of this painting as the painting is titled Las Meninas which, once again, means The Maids of Honor.  This makes me wonder what the roles of the maids of honor are in this picture.  They could be a way to confirm Infanta’s royalty as one is curtsying and the other is tending to her, which further makes Infanta appear to be the main focus of this painting. 

There might also be another main subject of this painting: the audience.  I think this because many of the people in the painting are looking out of the picture, including Infanta herself.  There is a mirror behind Infanta Margarita in which two people can be seen.  These two people are Infanta Margarita’s parents, the King and Queen of Spain.  Since many people in the picture are looking at the painting as if they are looking at the people viewing the painting, this might be a suggestion that the viewer is equal to royalty (source). The development of the middle class In the Baroque era allowed paintings and other types of artwork become available to more than just churches and monarchy (source).  This may explain the direction of the gaze of the characters towards the audience, a way to represent that whoever is viewing this painting is now synonymous with royalty.  Another way in which the audience feels as if they are part of the painting is the artist in the painting with a brush and palette.  This artist is Velazquez himself and he appears to be painting yours truly—or is he painting the King and Queen?

This painting appeals to me because of all the fine details.  I can imagine the feeling of the clothes by the intricate details, the feel of the dog’s fine hair, the soft, light hair of the girls; all these details are so well displayed it really does make the audience feel as if they could just jump into the picture.  I also like the ambiguity of the painting—it could mean many different things to many different people and different people will appeal to different characters depicted in the painting.  There is definitely far more to be analyzed in this painting.  It is no surprise to me that this painting has been considered one of the most widely analyzed works in western painting history (source).

The Northern Renaissance’s Pessimist– Pieter Bruegel

In many of Pieter Bruegel’s paintings he paints people, but not in a very pleasing manner.  For example in Madrid in 1562 Bruegel painted The Triumph of Death (below, or can click here for a larger picture) in which unpleasant actions of humans such as war, death and killing are portrayed against a dreary backdrop.   Many of Bruegel’s works contain such depressing ideas as are present in this painting and, therefore, I think many of his works were based on the reformation of the church as these paintings depict ideas that are not religiously moral. In fact, his paintings have been described to show human weaknesses (source).  This is not similar to the works  of previous artists of the period in which humans were displayed as beautiful beings without emphasis on the faults and weaknesses of humanity.

The Triumph of Death is not the only piece of art in which strong, negative images are found, another such piece is Two Monkeys, also called Two Small Monkey in some literature, which was painted in Berlin in 1562 and this is the piece I chose to analyze, although many of his art pieces are very intriguing.

 

Everyone has heard the tale of evolution which has often been simply summed up as humans are derived from monkeys.  In Bruegel’s painting Two Monkeys, I think he uses the monkeys as substitutes for humans.  I interpret the meaning of Two Monkeys as a metaphor for addictions.  In the lower right hand corner of the painting there is cracked, empty nutshell.  These monkeys could have given up their freedom for one single nut.  This has been supported by other interpretations of this piece in which the Netherlands proverb, “to go to court for the sake of a hazelnut” has been applied to this piece (source).   This is often as addictions go: people will do anything to obtain their desires, no matter how small.  The small arch also gives the painting a feeling of confinement, as if the monkeys are trapped.  In many addictions, the addict feels as if they are trapped and cannot live without whatever they are addicted to.  I think the beautiful, happy background is supposed to represent the life that the monkeys could have if they were free from this addiction.  The monkey on the right is looking away, as if he is ashamed or possibly abused by the other monkey.  The sadness in this picture is almost overwhelming.  It can be seen in the eyes of the monkey, the hanging heads, the dark colors inside the arch, the empty shell; all these features give the painting a sense of sadness and desperation.

Since many of Bruegel’s paintings contain humans, it makes me wonder why he didn’t paint humans in place of monkeys.  My hypothesis of why he used monkeys is because monkeys are neutral to all people.  By this I mean people have hair color, people have similar shapes— basically, people look like people. Therefore, if someone believed they looked like the person depicted they might see more of themselves in the picture than people who did not look like the individual in the painting.  For example, if the monkeys were replaced with men I would be able to connect less with this picture as I know it could not be me because I am not a male.  However, by using monkeys they could represent anyone, any gender, any race as addictions are found all kinds of people. 

I chose this piece because of the raw emotion that can be seen in it.  Little interpretation is needed to see that there is sadness in this portrait. I chose it for the detail, the contrast between the dark arch and the light background, the emotion of the monkey, all the little details that make Bruegel’s paintings so marvelous can be found in this piece. I also chose it because I found meaning in it that is  just as relevant yesterday, today as it will be tomorrow.

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