It was a great trip to Spain!

Prado

While in Madrid, we visited the Prado museum and spent the greater part of a day there. My favorite was probably Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez.

Here is a review of that painting from wikepedia.org: One of the infantas, Margarita, the eldest daughter of the new Queen, is the subject of Las Meninas (1656), Velázquez's magnum opus. Created four years before his death, it is a staple of the European baroque period of art. An apotheosis of the work has been effected since its creation; Luca Giordano, a contemporary Italian painter, referred to it as the "theology of painting," and the seventeenth century Englishman Thomas Lawrence cited it as the "philosophy of art," so decidedly capable of producing its desired effect. That effect has been variously interpreted; Brown points out the noteworthy interpretation that, in inserting within the work a diminutive, faded portrait of the king and queen hanging on the back wall, Velázquez has ingeniously prognosticated the fall of the Spanish empire that was to gain momentum following his death.

Personally, I love that he's in the painting. It's full of life, there is so much going on, and the way he chooses to let you know what is important in the painting is totally awesome! Oh, one more thing... Velazquez was born in Sevilla!

posted by Veronica @ 9:33 PM