###### tags: `BA2` `MG`

Media & Game Studies BA2 - Video Presentation Notes
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## Las Meninas Transcription
The painting is made in 1656 by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age.
The painting is best known for its effects of realism.
Some critics praised for its realistic depiction of that moment,
while the other critics have focused more on how he constructs the sense of informality with the foreground characters.

The main portrait in this painting is the Infanta Margarita. She is placed the closest to the central line but not exactly in the middle.
At the same time, the light has more illumination on her face than the other surrounding figures. Combined with their poses, it implicates the differences between their social status.
Compared to another painting like Leonardo's Last Supper, which its main character, Jesus Christ is placed exactly in the center,
Velázquez's intentional placement of the figure actually creates the feeling of informality, but at the same, keep her significance in the picture.

Another most discussed effect in Las Meninas is the uncertain relationship between the viewer and the characters in the picture.

There are several figures in the painting that are staring towards the viewer's position. Because of this effect, the viewer is included into the narrative of this painting. So the painting wouldn't have a complete narration without the presence of the observer.

As you can see, the mirror over her shoulder shows the King and the Queen, and they standing at our viewing position.
This indicates that we are playing as the role of the King or Queen, which further explains why the other figures would pay their attention to our presence.
So we, the observer, at the same, is also being observed by the other figures in the painting.