Template:POTD/2010-02-15
Las Meninas ("The Maids of Honour") is a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, showing a large room in the Royal Palace of Madrid, and presents several figures, most identifiable from the Spanish court. Some look out of the canvas towards the viewer, while others interact among themselves. The young Infanta Margarita is surrounded by her entourage of maids of honour, chaperone, bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog. Just behind them, Velázquez portrays himself working at a large canvas. Las Meninas has long been recognised as one of the most important paintings in Western art history and has been one of the most widely analysed works in Western painting.