Las Meninas Essay

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Las Meninas

When I first looked at this painting, I instantly smiled and thought how beautiful the little girl was. I found it hard to pull myself away from it and have not been able to get it out of my head. The entire time I have been looking for a painting to do my research paper on, I kept being drawn back to this painting. Why am I drawn to this painting? It is as if everyone in the painting is looking at you. You have interrupted them when you turned the page or walked up to the painting. This painting includes you, brings you into the picture. Kenneth Clark, Looking at Pictures, stated that his first impression is “of being there”.
Description
Las Meninas was painted by Diego Velázquez in 1656 in oil on a canvas measuring ten and half foot by nine feet one inch wide. Natalia Rivera, states this painting is “recognized as a Baroque masterpiece” and is “both aesthetic and intellectual work that challenges Spanish preconceptions about art as a lowly craft”. Michael Atle (2003) states this painting is “not only the best painting in the Western world but it is also one of the most puzzling”.
According to MyStudios.com the original painting is in Museo del Prado, Madrid and was damaged in a fire in Alcaza in 1734. The painting had to be cut down on the sides because of fire damage and was restored by court painter Juan García de Miranda. The left cheek of the Infanta had to be completely repainted because of loss pigment. The unknown attendant behind Mari Barbola looks very pale almost like a ghostly figure and the menina Isabel has dark shadows around her face which could be from the painting being restored, Mystudios.com. The painting was cleaned in 1984 under the supervision of the American conservator John Brealey, to remove a "yellow veil" of dust that had gathered since the previous restoration in the 19th century. The cleaning provoked, "furious

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