 Though a picture captures a moment in time, the story it tells is often unclear. One example: Velázquez’s painting Las Meninas is considered one of the greatest works of Western art. Yet its intentions are still debated four hundred years later. One truth about Las Meninas cannot be denied: The composition of Las Meninas centers around an unusually self-possessed five-year-old princess, Margarita Theresa of Spain. Upon viewing this lustrous, golden portrait of Margarita it is hard to imagine that her future would offer anything but years of felicity. The reality was quite different. Margarita was never to grow old, never to see her beauty dim—she died at the age of twenty-one. It was a sad ending for the favorite child of Philip IV of Spain; in his letters, the king addressed the princess as “my joy.” |
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