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La menina y el artista (Inktober #3)
To quote Lin-Manuel Miranda on The Adventure Zone, BOOM muthafuckas.
About 1/9th of Las Meninas, zoomed to focus on the self portrait of Diego Velasquez looking out at the viewer.
If you aren’t familiar with Las Meninas, it’s a painting within a painting within a painting. The easy center of attention is the golden haired infanta and her two attendants (“the handmaidens” or “maids of honor”). They’re surrounded by courtiers and there’s a dog napping on the floor.
But then, in the dark corner of the dim roomful of paintings, you realize there’s a massive easel. The painter is the only figure making eye contact with you, the viewer. He is staring at you with a raised brush.
In the mirror on the far wall, straight ahead from you, is a reflection of the king and queen sitting for a portrait. The infanta and courtiers are in a good position to keep them entertained during an interminable portrait sitting.
This is my favorite self-portrait in all of art history. As a bonus, the vivid red cross on his chest was painted on years afterward, possibly after his death, as he had worked up to receiving that royal honor as a mere craftsman and was unspeakably proud.
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Diego Velasquez is an employee of El Ministerio Del Tiempo, and sits in the cafeteria sighing over coffee table books of Picasso. He makes me ridiculously happy.
[Image description: crop of the above painting copied in pen and ink with background details simplified. One maiden, just the edge of the infanta, and the mirror framing the monarchs is visible. The artist with his brush and palette is the darkest and most detailed. The red cross on his chest, his paint palette, and his brushes are the only elements that have been colored.]