Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Vélazquez - Las Lanzas or The Surrender of Breda
Breda Painting
Diego Velazquezborn 1599died 1660SpanishBaroquePeriod |
Las Lanzas also called The Surrender of Breda
by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Vélazquez The Surrender of Breda or Las Lanzas Before 1635 Oil on canvas 10' 7/8" x 12' 1/2" (307 x 367 cm) Museo del Prado, Madrid valued at: "500 doubloons inventory of 1700, Goya and Bayeu assessed the canvas at 120,000 reales in 1794 inventory,Prado first official appraisal valued at 2 million reales." [Guidol, page 146]
image credit:Mark Harden's Artchive:
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This painting is an entire world
of complex compositional elements A few of these details are shown in the boxes below. | |||||
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An entire world of complex compositional elements: OVERALL DETAILS
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Corner detail of a written document note: Just under the horse foot a document
is laid aside, instead the object of the key is taking the center focus. |
LanceorLances |
A solo lance or lances plural? Place = Breda The large
checkered flag and the field cluster of vertical lances in the
upper right quarter of the painting verses the bold and singular strong
diagonal single lance with pink-orange miniature flag in the foreground
held by a single soldier. the solo diagonal lance or pike with the flag atop
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The checkered
flag cluster of lances |
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Left side
cluster of figures- frontal view of
horse -lower right corner of painting-face seen ![]() |
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A riderless horse viewed from the rear (on the right side of the painting and meshed into the right side cluster of figures), with a large rounded mound of rear and tail, saddle and rear of his head shown to the viewer. The only part of his body unseen is his face with white markings, in fact the entire rear view of the body is shown but the head of the horse is hidden, it looks-away, therefore is an unseen face. This unseen face is displaced and reappears as if a face seen on the horse on the left side of the painting , but now it is reverse;. ). Both horses are riderless. as its body is mostly hidden and almost unseen ). Both horses are riderless. (The whole horse body is on the opposite left side of the painting and meshed into the left side cluster of figures). clsutton |
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Unique here is the fact that these two light spots have completely different spatial functions. One outlines a forward facing man garbed in a light coat, and the other is an entire patch of distant perspective figures contrasted by the foreground space arm of Justin of Nassau holding out the key to the city of Breda as he gives it to Spinola. |
Two jagged edge light spots in the composition hold very important and prominent importance in the picture. Both puzzle patches serve to lock in the figure of Justin. One spot is the front sun drenched white uniform
of the youthful Dutch soldier with his chest strikingly venerable, which
is made even more obvious by the fact that it is completely surrounded
by dark shaded figures that comfort him, one with his arm around his shoulder.
This moustache- faced man who offers comfort is only partial visible, in
fact only one eye is seen. A partially obstructed view. A face half hidden
by the looming head of the man shown as a rear facing but side profile
portrait in silhouette. A mid-ground silhouette. Here I believe Velazquez
was at full play with his shadows and his light spots changing them at
his will, one trading place for another. Shadow dark becomes figure light
or the reverse. "All we are saying is give peace a chance."- lyrics to peace song |
PENSIVE YOUTH Even though this lightly dressed man is located in the mid-ground of the painting as he stands
behind the two key figures of Justin of Nassau and Spinola,
he carries 'a focal point' ability with him. His raised figure, almost
says, "Look at me, I am in command here of this situation". In
toto he looms as one of the most enigmatic figures in the entire Surrender
of Breda. A bellwether of Dutch psyche. A crystal prism reflected
thought, full of doubts, filled with feelings, his mind nerve endings jumping
and his heart- strings running wild. The other patch is a cluster of pastel colored soldiers. Radical creativity on the part of Velazquez. And pure fiction. Soldiers do not dress up in pastel colored uniforms for war. But here the lower four fifths of the bodies of the seven visible soldiers have their uniforms in pastel colors [ While the upper one-fifth are their heads, which come in line just above the black and gold armored arm of the Spanish General Spinola and are by contrast to their bodies in complete aerial perspective into a bluish distance evocative virtuosity and beauty of unfolding depth. All the heads are draw in soft brown and drab colored tones ] . To me this is one of the most radical devices Velazquez ever used. Simply brilliant thinking. What are these lines of Noland like pastel colors? Left to right, they are first pastel green, second pastel blue-green, next to that a pastel yellow, followed by pastel pink, then pastel blue {this blue figure is the most prominent and detailed of all the group}, next to the last is a pastel cream, and finally on the far right is pastel green again. C. L. Sutton |
THE KEYS HANG INSIDE THIS SPACE LIKE THE GOLD BUG HUNG FROM THE TULIP TREE BRANCH IN EDGAR ALLEN POE'S FAMOUS NOVEL of 1843 - THE GOLD BUG | |
GOLD BUG HANGING: Legrand's rare species of [*or Sullivan's Island, South Carolina insect called Callichroma
splendidum or a click beetle, Alaus oculatus.] The Gold Bug-The Tale Retold by Betinna Knapp http://www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/pogbretelling.html &The Gold Bug - Introduction by The Gold Bug by Arthur Paul Patterson at:http://www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/pogoldbug.html |
THE KEY STRINGS HANGING, THE KEY EXTENDED: THE KEY ACTS AS THE GOLD BUG OF THE PICTURE. The core of the story.
A seminal image at the core of the work. The link that binds all the surrounding
parts together. The key hangs with a string attached in Velazquez's painting;
just as did the gold scarabaeus beetle bug which hung from a string in
the Poe masterpiece novel. The open spot of space, the hollow central core
of the often used Velasquez device, acts in a similar way to the hole made
by the left eye socket of the scull. One could go so far to say that the
2 light patches |
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Contents of Velazquez's own library inventory just after his death on |
Friday, August 6, 1660 at the age of sixty-one years. Velazquez's funeral was the next day, Saturday, August 7, 1660. Three days after that on August 11, 1660, Velazquez's executors, his son-n-law the painter Maso, his friend Gaspar de Fuensalida, and Francisoc de Rojas, a newly appointed 'aposentador' made an inventory of his atelier and their apartments in the Casa del Tesoro. "Juana Pacheco, died, following her husband to the grave by a mere eight days", which would have been August 15, 1660. Velazquez and wife had no will {Gudiol} 1 Inventory taken at death -174 books ... {dates and information from Jonathan Brown, page 265.}
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MoreVelazquez
_____________ Only 75 painters lived in Madrid in 1625, in a town of 150,000 inhabitants. [Jonathan Brown,p. 105} |
War timeline! Time = end of a year long seige, June 2,1625 Place = Breda , the Dutch Netherlands
Which countries? Spain
_____________ Velazquez was a very slow painter "Velazquez has long ben regarded as one of the least productive painters ofhis period." Total 120 to 125. diveded by 40 years equals 3 each year. or "2 per annum during his last 20 years." [J. Brown, page 169]
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read more dwarfs? 34 dwarfs party in Rome- "The Oriental practice of keeping dwarfs existed in Europe until the advent of the French Revolution, which put a stop to it. Royal and princely courts combed Europe for these stunted creatures, who were brought up as rarities and curiosities, clad in gorgeous costumes, hung with gold and jewels, and exhibited on social of festive occasions. Even ecclesiastical dignitaries succumbed to the vogue, and Cardinal Vitelli once gave a banquet in Rome at which the guest were served by thirty-four dwarfs selected for their hideous aspect. Their masters treated them more like monkeys or dogs than human beings."and "Velazquez himself belonged to their category. At the bullfight in the Plaza Mayor he sat in the fourth tier with the barbers and lackeys of the nobility."(p.54) quote from page 53, of Spansish Painting by Gotthard Jedlicka. A Studio Book, the Viking Press, New York©1964, L of CCCN: 64-11433. Diego's court pay was only slightly higher than the dwarfs, some of which had their own servants. |
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What - 2 versions of Los Meninas? Las dos Meninas de Velazquez- read about a 2nd version of Los Meninas, one in the Prado and one in KingstonTras 15 años de estudio, Matías Díaz Padrón conservador jefe del Museo del Prado, ha llegado a la conclusión que Velázquez pintó dos retratos de "las Meninas". http://www.cyberspain.com/passion/2meninas.htm
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