Las Meninas by Velázquez: the meaning behind the painting and where to see it in Madrid

Diego Velázquez painted Las Meninas in 1656, by which time he had been Philip IV’s court painter for more than thirty years. At first glance it is a scene from palace life: the five-year-old Infanta Margarita, her attendants and the artist at work in a large room of the old Alcázar in Madrid. Look a little longer and the questions start. What is Velázquez painting on that huge canvas we only see from behind? Who is standing where we are standing? And why are several of the figures looking straight at us?

Who is who in Las Meninas

The little girl in the centre is the Infanta Margarita, daughter of Philip IV and his second wife, Mariana of Austria. On the left, María Agustina Sarmiento kneels to offer her a small red clay jug of water on a tray, while on the right Isabel de Velasco begins a curtsy. These two are the meninas, the young maids of honour who give the painting its name.

Further right stand Mari Bárbola, a dwarf from the queen’s household, and Nicolasito Pertusato, who rests his foot on a sleepy mastiff. Behind them, half in shadow, the chaperone Marcela de Ulloa talks to a guard. In the open doorway at the back, José Nieto, the queen’s chamberlain, pauses on the stairs and looks back into the room.

In 1656 Margarita was the only child of the king’s second marriage, but she was not heir to the throne. That was her elder half-sister, María Teresa. Even so, Velázquez makes her the centre of everything, and the light from the window on the right falls straight on her.

The artist inside the picture

Velázquez painted himself at full length beside the canvas, brush and palette in hand, sharing the room with the royal family. For a 17th-century court painter that was a bold move. The painting is not signed, and it hardly needs to be, as the author is standing right there.

The mystery of the mirror

On the back wall hangs a mirror reflecting Philip IV and Queen Mariana. Where they are actually standing is the painting’s great puzzle. One reading has them posing for Velázquez from the spot where the viewer stands, which would make the hidden canvas their portrait. Another has them walking into the room, which is why the Infanta turns towards them and a maid of honour curtsies.

A royal letter adds a twist. In 1653 Philip IV wrote that he had not sat for a portrait in nine years, because he could not face Velázquez’s slowness or watching himself grow old. One theory is that the mirror was the painter’s way of putting the king in the picture without asking him to pose.

A cross he had not yet earned

On Velázquez’s chest is the red cross of the Order of Santiago. When he painted Las Meninas he was not a knight: the honour came only in 1659, a year before he died. So the cross was added later, either by Velázquez himself or, as the old story goes, on the king’s orders after his death.

To join the order, Velázquez had to prove he had never sold his paintings, since earning a living from manual work was thought unworthy of a knight. The cross on the canvas says that the painter stands beside the king by right.

What Las Meninas means

Velázquez did not choose the title. Palace inventories listed the painting under other names, such as ‘The Family of Philip IV’, and it became Las Meninas in the Prado catalogue of 1843. Menina is a word of Portuguese origin for the girls of noble birth who served the queen and the royal children, so the title translates as ‘The Maids of Honour’.

Its deeper meaning has kept writers busy for centuries. The French philosopher Michel Foucault opened his 1966 book The Order of Things with a chapter on it, reading the painting as a puzzle about who is looking at whom.

Seeing Las Meninas at the Prado

The canvas measures 320.5 by 281.5 cm and hangs in Room 12 of the Prado’s Villanueva Building. Because of its size and value it is not lent to exhibitions. During the Spanish Civil War the Prado’s collection was evacuated, and in the summer of 1939 Las Meninas was shown in Geneva.

If you are heading to Barcelona too, the Museu Picasso has the other half of the story. In 1957 Picasso painted 58 works in Cannes, 45 of them based on Las Meninas, and in 1968 he gave the whole series to the museum.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Las Meninas?

At the Museo del Prado in Madrid, in Room 12 of the Villanueva Building. It is not lent to other museums.

What does Las Meninas mean?

It means ‘the maids of honour’, the young noblewomen who served the queen and the royal children. The painting is named after the two who attend the Infanta Margarita.

Who is in Las Meninas?

The Infanta Margarita, the maids of honour María Agustina Sarmiento and Isabel de Velasco, Mari Bárbola and Nicolasito Pertusato, the chaperone Marcela de Ulloa and a guard, José Nieto in the doorway, and Velázquez himself. Philip IV and Mariana of Austria appear in the mirror.

Who is reflected in the mirror in Las Meninas?

King Philip IV and Queen Mariana. Historians still disagree on whether they are posing from the viewer’s position or have just walked into the room.

Why does Velázquez wear a red cross in Las Meninas?

It is the cross of the Order of Santiago, which he received in 1659, three years after finishing the painting. It was added later, possibly on the king’s orders after Velázquez died in 1660.

How big is Las Meninas?

320.5 by 281.5 cm, so more than three metres tall, with the figures close to life size.

Where can I see Picasso’s Las Meninas?

At the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, which holds the full series of 58 works Picasso donated in 1968.