Greatest Paintings: The Ghost of Spain – Velázquez’s Las Meninas

February 11, 2026

Description

Why does Diego Velázquez’ Las Meninas represent the fading Spanish Golden Age? How did he challenge the boundaries between viewer and artwork? And, in what ways does his defining style foreshadow...

Books Referenced

The Vanishing Man

Author: Laura Cumming

Context:

Tom Holland identifies the passage Laura Cumming read aloud as the opening to her book, 'The Vanishing Man, a study of Velázquez.'