Las Meninas by Antonio Buero Vallejo

 Las Meninas by Antonio Buero Vallejo


 

 

Velasquez is not one of my favorite painters…and as for Antonio Buero Vallejo- I had not heard about it until a few days ago.

And yet, Las Meninas is an excellent play and I was enchanted.

There are some minor flaws, at least in my view. It sounded rather socialist at times, with the insistence on the fight of the oppressed, the strike of the cleaners, to give a couple of examples. On the other hand, the cleaners had not been paid for three months and the Marquis had committed some abuses.

The evil character in the play is the marquis, who rules Spain in actual fact and has become extremely rich in the process.

Velasquez is a daring painter and takes some liberty in treating his subject. This attracts the wrath of the powers to be.

First of all, Velasquez paints a naked woman and that is considered so outrageous for the 17th century that he is brought in front of a tribunal lead by the king.

The famous painter is not only an amazing creator, but also a shrewd counselor or lawyer- he defends himself very well in court:

-          What about the nude paintings that his majesty himself has in the palace?!

-          Yes, there are some of these in the royal chambers

-          If these are approved, why not my own painting?

-          Those painters are foreigners and some paintings are old…

-          The same rules should apply to me…

And that is a very strong point. But there is another bone of contention. The fact that Velasquez has painted a beautiful woman causes hatred right next to him, in his circle of friends, one of whom betrays him, because he is jealous and enamored with the model, who seems to like the painter and ignores the man who becomes a sworn enemy of the artist.

The title of the play is given by a famous painting, which was both excellent and daring.

Las Meninas represents:

-          “The theology of painting, or the true philosophy of art”

According to various scholars, there is no painting more important than this one. However, the courtiers were not impressed when they saw it.

Velasquez was accused of giving more importance to himself and even a dog in the painting, than to their royal highnesses.

Although the court painter and a respected painter and man of knowledge, Velasquez has been under attack, at least in this play. I am not aware of the details of the creator’s life, but in the play he stands accused and even abused by a number of enemies, including the powerful Marquis

I have read that the author served in the Spanish Civil War, in the Republican Army and that may explain a view of the royal family that is rather negative.

Las Meninas points out to another aspect, apart from a modern and bold painting technique- the health of the “Little infantas” is brought into question.

There is a character in the play that says:

-          Spain is doomed- look at these infantas.

The character in question serves as a model for a painting of Velasquez and then comes back with revolutionary ideas- fighting for justice and, it seems to me- against the very idea of monarchy.

Apart from these leftist ideas that I disagree with, the play is informative, entertaining, revealing interesting aspects in the life of a great artist, who is determined to keep his faith and principles even when the authorities suggest that he destroys Las Meninas and change his artistic perspective.

I am not sure what is the historical truth and what is the artistic license, but the fiction works wonderfully and I loved it.  

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