The moment that I read the assignment I knew which artwork I was going to choose. “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez which is “The Maids of Honour” in English. This painting is from 1656 which is a 200 years away from Alberti’s death but still it has many things that Alberti expects from an artwork. I choose this because I want to see if people still flowed Alberti’s ideas and also when I look at the other paintings I am aware that I’m just looking to a drawing and they don’t make me feel any emotion but this painting has special effects that you feel uncomfortable, watched or important and I like that it has this power.
One of the most important thing about this painting is the use of light which is also important for Alberti. In this painting face of the girl and the maids are bright so when we first look to this painting we look at them. The other figures are dark. The reason behind this always fascinates me. When we look at the bright face of the girl we feel like we have been watched because all dark figures looks at you when you are not looking at them and that can make you feel uncomfortable and that makes this painting effective with the use of light. Light not only used for this but it has been used for another reason too. In “On Painting” Alberti says “The face which has some surfaces large will be ugly to look at but the face in which the surfaces are so joined together that has pleasing lights pass gradually into agreeable shadows and not very sharp angles, we may rightly call a handsome and beautiful face (71). Diego Velázquez wanted to show how beautiful the little girl Margarita is so he makes her face bright with the right shadows, give her a little face and a tiny waist when we look to her right however wee see a figure that has a large head, shadows that makes her face uglier and sharped chin that takes kindness from her so we can say that Diego Velázquez may used Alberti’s suggestions to make someone beautiful.
Perpective is another thing that is important for Alberti is perspective. He was the founder of the what we call now the linear perspective.This painting makes you feel like you are being watched but also with the help of perspective it makes you feel like you are the queen and king because in the painting we can see the painter Diego Velázquez painting something looking at the viewer and there is a mirror and there we can see queen and king. Not only by this, this painting makes us feel like the queen and king with the help of the vanishing point. Vanishing point of this painting is the door and there we can see a man opening the door and waiting for us. This makes us feel like we have to leave this room.
As conclusion Diego Velázquez used Alberti’s ideas about beauty and perspective to tell the story of this painting and to make viewer feel different emotions by looking at it.
This is a very interesting painting, the use of light on the maids and the girl as a focal point is a strong observation. I like how the facial details of the “ugly girl” are shown, as well as the usage of shadow to deliver the idea that she isn’t beautiful. The elements of color and light definitely contribute in making Velázquez’s work a masterpiece. However, to improve this essay I’d suggest writing a clearer thesis statement that would state what the body paragraphs are about. Also, you could also elaborate more on the idea of “feeling like a king and a queen” cause I didn’t understand your point well.. The way I see it, the scene is painted from the perspective of the royal couple that are in the mirrored reflection.
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