Las Meninas
1656 · Oil on canvas · Museo del Prado, Madrid
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About this work
- Artist
- Diego Velázquez (1599–1660)
- Year
- 1656
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 318 × 276 cm
- Collection
- Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Movement
- Baroque
The five-year-old Infanta Margarita stands at the centre of a high room in the Alcázar palace in Madrid, attended by two maids of honour, a dwarf, a female dwarf and a dozing mastiff, while Velázquez himself stands at a huge canvas looking out at the viewer. In a mirror on the back wall the king and queen, Philip IV and Mariana, appear faintly, as if standing where we stand. Painted in 1656, four years before the artist's death, it is at once a group portrait, a picture of the painter at work and a puzzle about who is looking at whom. The brushwork is astonishingly free up close and resolves at a distance. The red cross of the Order of Santiago on Velázquez's chest was added after he was knighted in 1659. It is the centrepiece of the Prado.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A high dim palace room that resolves at a distance, for a living room or hallway where you can step back, at 24×36 in black. Warm grey or deep green wall; the brushwork rewards anyone who then walks up close.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Baroque painting
- Era
- 17th century (1656)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- living room, hallway or entryway, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Las Meninas in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Las Meninas painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.





















