Las Meninas.

Painting card:
-Title: Las Meninas.
-Author: Diego Velázquez.
-Year: 1656.
-Style: Spanish Baroque.
-Technique: Oil on canvas.
-Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid.
-General description: The topic of the painting is the portrait of the Infanta Margarita of Austria, who is surrounded by her servants "las meninas".

INTRODUCTION.
Las Meninas, also known as La familia de Philip IV (The family of Felipe IV) was painted by Diego Velázquez. He was a Spanish painter who belonged to the Spanish Baroque. The most important piece of art of Velázquez was Las Meninas, but he also painted other pieces, for example La Rendición de Breda, Portrait of Pope Inocencio X and Las Hilanderas.
The Baroque's main characteristics were the realism and expressivity.
This painting was painted in the 17th century, which was a period of crisis, weakness and wars.


ANALYSIS.
The technique that was used was oil on canvas. It has a linear perspective.
The lower half of the painting is full of characters and the upper half has shadows.
The lights come from the window, which gives importance to the Infanta.
The colors are mainly dark.
The scene is located in the Alcázar in Madrid.
The characters are Velázquez, the Infanta Margarita and her servants, José Nieto Velázquez (the queen's chamberlain), the princess's chaperone and a guardadamas behind the meninas and king Philip  IV and queen Mariana, who are reflected on a mirror.
It is a realistic painting and it has a lot of details, for example the hair of the dog.
Before the 17th century, the artist were not very important, but with this painting we can see that it changed because he painted himself with the monarchy.

CONCLUSION.
Other important artists of the Spanish Baroque were Zurbarán, Murillo and José de Ribera.
This painting is one of the most famous.
I like it because of its realism and it seems like a photo.