spinners study
I was making this sketch of the painting Las Hilanderas ("The Spinners") by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez in the Prado Museum two years ago when a tour group came into the gallery. The tour guide began her talk about this painting by saying, “When you first look at this painting you think it is about the spinners, but…” and she went on to explain, as art historians have written, that the painting was actually a depiction of the myth of Arachne and Minerva. That story, simply put, is that the goddess Minerva becomes incensed when she hears that the mortal Arachne claims that she can weave better than anyone. Minerva comes in the guise of an old woman and challenges Arachne to a weave-off. Arachne wins and Minerva is so angry she turns Arachne into a spider. The painting references the story twice: First, in the foreground we see Minerva is the older woman on the right (who appears to have the leg of a young woman) and Arachne is the young woman on the right in the white blouse. And second, in the back room Minerva is the figure with the helmet and she is about to turn Arachne into a spider. The painting is made even more complicated–but also clearer in intent–with the inclusion of a second myth depicted in the weaving on the back wall of the back room. This tapestry is based on a painting by Rubens (Velázquez chief competition) which was a copy of a painting by Titian (regarded by both Velázquez and Rubens as the “god of painting”) titled “The Rape of Europa”. The image depicts the god Zeus, in the guise of a bull, absconding with the mortal woman Europa.
When that tour guide said, “…you think it is about the spinners, but…” I was tempted to turn and say, “Actually, it is about the spinners.” Here’s why: There are two myths alluded to in the painting: these stories share in common the conflictual relation between a god and a human. There are two spaces in the painting: in the background, the play room of the aristocracy and, in the foreground, the work room of the weavers. There seems to be an at least implicit analogy being made between the relationships of god - human and that of the aristocracy - worker. If one is inclined to understand these aspects of the painting to suggest that Velázquez is reflecting on social and political status it seems quite clear that he has privileged the weavers in the fore-ground by virtue of scale, presence and–by allusion to the Arachne / Minerva tale–creative significance.
spinners study
I was making this sketch of the painting Las Hilanderas ("The Spinners") by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez in the Prado Museum two years ago when a tour group came into the gallery. The tour guide began her talk about this painting by saying, “When you first look at this painting you think it is about the spinners, but…” and she went on to explain, as art historians have written, that the painting was actually a depiction of the myth of Arachne and Minerva. That story, simply put, is that the goddess Minerva becomes incensed when she hears that the mortal Arachne claims that she can weave better than anyone. Minerva comes in the guise of an old woman and challenges Arachne to a weave-off. Arachne wins and Minerva is so angry she turns Arachne into a spider. The painting references the story twice: First, in the foreground we see Minerva is the older woman on the right (who appears to have the leg of a young woman) and Arachne is the young woman on the right in the white blouse. And second, in the back room Minerva is the figure with the helmet and she is about to turn Arachne into a spider. The painting is made even more complicated–but also clearer in intent–with the inclusion of a second myth depicted in the weaving on the back wall of the back room. This tapestry is based on a painting by Rubens (Velázquez chief competition) which was a copy of a painting by Titian (regarded by both Velázquez and Rubens as the “god of painting”) titled “The Rape of Europa”. The image depicts the god Zeus, in the guise of a bull, absconding with the mortal woman Europa.
When that tour guide said, “…you think it is about the spinners, but…” I was tempted to turn and say, “Actually, it is about the spinners.” Here’s why: There are two myths alluded to in the painting: these stories share in common the conflictual relation between a god and a human. There are two spaces in the painting: in the background, the play room of the aristocracy and, in the foreground, the work room of the weavers. There seems to be an at least implicit analogy being made between the relationships of god - human and that of the aristocracy - worker. If one is inclined to understand these aspects of the painting to suggest that Velázquez is reflecting on social and political status it seems quite clear that he has privileged the weavers in the fore-ground by virtue of scale, presence and–by allusion to the Arachne / Minerva tale–creative significance.