''Las Hilanderas'' (; "The Spinners") is a painting by the Spanish painter

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...

, in the Museo del Prado of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is also known by the title ''The Fable of Arachne''. It is usually regarded as a late work by the artist, dating from around 1657. Traditionally, it was believed that the painting depicted women workers in the tapestry workshop of Santa Isabel. In 1948, however, Diego Angula observed that the iconography suggested Ovid's Fable of

Arachne Arachne (; from , cognate with Latin ) is the protagonist of a tale in Greek mythology known primarily from the version told by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE), which is the earliest extant source for the story. In Book Six of his ...

, the story of the mortal Arachne who dared to challenge the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

to a weaving competition and, on winning the contest, was turned into a spider by the jealous goddess. This is now generally accepted as the correct interpretation of the painting. It was painted for Don Pedro de Arce, huntsman to King Philip IV. It entered the

Spanish royal collection The Spanish royal collection of art was almost entirely built up by the monarchs of the Habsburg family who ruled Spain from 1516 to 1700, and then the Bourbons (1700–1868, with a brief interruption). They included a number of kings with a seri ...

in the eighteenth century, and was probably damaged by the fire at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in 1734. New sections were added at the sides (37 cm in total) and over 50 cm to the top of the canvas. The painting remains at the extended size but is currently (in November 2013) displayed behind a screen with a frame added over a cut-away section revealing only the original dimensions. Stylistic elements, such as the lightness, the economical use of paint, and the clear influence of the Italian

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

, have led many scholars to assert that it was painted in 1657. Others place it earlier, at some time between 1644–50, perhaps because certain aspects of its form and content recall the bodegones Velázquez painted in his early career. In ''Las Hilanderas'', Velázquez developed a layered composition, an approach he had often used in his earlier bodegones, such as the '' Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary''. In the foreground is the contest. The goddess Athena, disguised as an old woman, is on the left and Arachne, in a white top facing away from the viewer, is on the right. Three helpers assist them. In the background, a raised platform (perhaps a stage) displays the finished tapestries. The one visible to us is Arachne's, showing The Rape of Europa — another Greek myth. This is in fact a copy of

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

's painting of the subject, which was in the Spanish royal collection. The painting has been interpreted as an allegory of the arts and even as a commentary on the range of creative endeavor, with the fine arts represented by the goddess and the crafts represented by Arachne. Others think that Velázquez' message was simply that to create great works of art, both great creativity and hard technical work are required. Other scholars have read political allegories into the work and interpreted it through popular culture. Tizian 085

References

Sources

* *Bird, Wendy. "The Bobbin and the Distaff", Apollo, 2007-11-01

External links

"Enslaved sovereign": aesthetics of power in Foucault, Velazquez and Ovid.
Article by Sira Dambe, Journal of Literary Studies, December 1, 2006
''Velázquez ''
exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online {{ACArt, country=ES Paintings by Diego Velázquez Cats in art Musical instruments in art Paintings based on Metamorphoses