Spanish and Flemish Baroque Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Spanish and Flemish Baroque - Assignment Example Many regard Diego Velazquez' monumental "Las Meninas" as one of the greatest paintings of the world that it puzzles its viewers. Though one is capable of interpreting the painting in his own way, one can attribute different imaginative coloring to it. It is because of this feature it attracted the attention of many and the words of the art historian Enriqueta Harris makes clear when he says, "superb color values and draftsmanship, showing unique skill in merging color, light, space, rhythm and mass in such a way that all have equal value."(Atlee, 2003). A critical analysis of the painting raises the questions of reality and illusion. The scene depicted in the picture is a momentary incident in the palace of Philip IV of Spain that one may feel it as a snapshot. It is the blending of aesthetic mastery, fusion of form and content. Critics like Michel Foucault have commented that one can find a paradoxical relationship between reality and representation in Velazquez' painting. Foucault attributes a triangular relationship between the painter, the mirror image, and the shadowy man in the background. One is thunderstruck regarding the relationship between these three elements. Velazquez has successfully portrayed the painter and his canvas, with Infanta surrounded by her maids. The mirror on the background reflects the image of king and the queen, though some scholars argue that it is the reflection of the portrait on the left side of the picture. The painter has selected a theme contrastive to the representations.