Velazquez and Goya:

It is particularly interesting that Goya chose to copy the Velazquez masterpiece, “Las Meninas” which he did in the form of an etching. This enigmatic painting has been analysed, over-analysed and reinterpreted by both art historians and famous artists. However, in the case of Goya I think his tribute to Velazquez is not just aesthetic but is also a statement of aims.

”Las Meninas” depicts the artist painting a double portrait of the king and queen. It has been suggested that the reflection in the mirror on the back wall is the reflection of the canvas that Velazquez is working on, but this, in my opinion, is nonsense. The reflection is directly reflecting the viewer’s position, exactly where the king and queen are posed and if it is actually the canvas which is being reflected then Velazquez would be in the way.

There is a menacing dark figure in a lit doorway at the back of the room, the furthest point of the picture’s linear perspective and he is staring at Velazquez. The king and queen can see the artist’s face and they can see what he is doing. So, Velazquez is boxed in and this is one of the main points of the painting, that the original power player’s pr man lead an oppressed existence.

There is another darkness in this picture – the dwarves. The royal infanta seems herself to be the personification of a spiteful runt and Velazquez may have been suggesting that she was the stunted product of royal inbreeding. The lady dwarf, however, stares out at us, at the king and queen in fact, with doleful resignation. Dwarves were prized by the Spanish court at the time because, as well as finding them entertaining, the royals believed that their retarded growth and low intellect meant that they were close to God. It is of course untrue that dwarves possess less intelligence than normal people.

Leah Kharibian states that in his portrait “Francisco Lezcano”, Velazquez wanted to portray the royal court dwarf with dignity but she also cleverly points out that Lezcano has dull eyes which have been painted without glinting highlights to suggest a vacancy of mind. However, I would venture that this is deliberately portraying what Velazquez depicts in “Las Meninas”, a lacklustre sadness brought on by the dwarf’s demeaning role within an oppressive regime. Lezcano’s posture is that of a depressed man.

Goya was altogether more aggressive than Velazquez with his visceral, even ribald “Los Caprichos”, or his stark confrontation of religious oppression and the horrors of malleable ignorance. More than a hundred years ago his biographer wrote of this hard man “How this devil of a man must have found himself constricted in his costume of painter to the king.”

His further homage to Velazquez is evident in the royal portrait “Charles IV and his Family”. Here the meta-painting is less clear, in fact perhaps the point is that we and the royals will not know what the artist is painting until it is too late! The retard in this picture is Queen Maria Luisa, a revolting, haughty and hideous remedial who looks on with dishonest disdain. It is understood that this foul creature had lovers who of course must have been paid very well. Kharibian writes “despite the official character of the painting and his official position, he has accentuated the ugliness and the vulgarity of the principal figures so vividly as to produce an effect almost of caricature. Theophile Gautier writing of this picture, remarks that the King “looks like a grocer who has just won the lottery prize, with his family around him.” “

Another picture where Goya’s irreverent contempt for the Spanish royal family can be found is the portrait of Ferdinand VII which was painted around 1814. After the expulsion of the French, Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne and began a new war of intolerance on Spanish liberals by re-establishing the Inquisition, closing all the universities and theatres, introducing censorship of the press and generally persecuting free thinkers including many of Goya’s friends. This must have made Goya hate the king, so it is no surprise that Ferdinand VII is portrayed by Goya as being a pompous, crass imbecile. Ferdinand had never seen active service so his clothes and sword are themselves satirical pomp and circumstance. His ugly features which he had inherited from his mother are exaggerated by the angle of his head which is identical to Maria Luisa’s pose in “Charles IV and his Family”. The horse on the right of the picture appears as if it is almost mocking the king.

In general what binds Velazquez and Goya, apart from varying degrees of attitude, is their capacity for fantastic, expressive and free brushwork. On close inspection you might think some of this brushwork is clumsy, but your first impression and the overall impact of their work is one of intense naturalism and aesthetic intuition.

Both Velazquez and Goya remain Titans in the history of art.


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sources:

"Velazquez" (Leah Kharibian for The National Gallery - isbn: 1-85709-313-5)

"Goya" (Enriqueta Harris - Phaidon - isbn: 0-7148-2975-7)

You can find the original works of art featured at the Prado, Madrid apart from the Goya etching of "Las Meninas" which is housed at the British Museum.