Editing Diego Velázquez (section)

==Return to Spain and later career==
From February 1650, Philip repeatedly sought Velázquez's return to Spain.<ref name="Carr_247"/> Accordingly, after visiting [[Naples]]—where he saw his old friend Jose Ribera—and Venice, Velázquez returned to Spain via [[Barcelona]] in 1651, taking with him many pictures and 300 pieces of statuary, which afterwards were arranged and catalogued for the king.

[[Elisabeth of France (1602–1644)|Elisabeth of France]] had died in 1644, and the king had married [[Mariana of Austria]], whom Velázquez now painted in many attitudes. In 1652 he was specially chosen by the king to fill the high office of ''aposentador mayor'', which imposed on him the duty of looking after the quarters occupied by the court—a responsible function which was no [[sinecure]] and one which interfered with the exercise of his art.<ref>Carr et al. 2006, p. 46.</ref> Yet far from indicating any decline, his works of this period are amongst the highest examples of his style.<ref>Carr et al. 2006, p. 47.</ref>

==={{Lang|es|Las Meninas}}===
{{Main|Las Meninas}}
[[File:Las Meninas, by Diego Velázquez, from Prado in Google Earth.jpg|thumb|{{Lang|es|[[Las Meninas]]}} (1656)]]

One of the ''[[infanta]]s'', [[Margaret Theresa of Spain|Margaret Theresa]], the eldest daughter of the new queen, appears to be the subject of {{Lang|es|[[Las Meninas]]}} (1656, English: ''The Maids of Honour''), Velázquez's [[Masterpiece|magnum opus]].
Created four years before his death, it serves as an outstanding example of European [[baroque]] art. [[Luca Giordano]], a contemporary Italian painter, referred to it as the "theology of painting",<ref>Asturias and Bardi 1969, p. 106.</ref> and in 1827 the president of the [[Royal Academy of Arts]] [[Thomas Lawrence|Sir Thomas Lawrence]] described it in a letter as "the true philosophy of the art".<ref>{{cite book |last=Gower |first=Ronald Sutherland |author-link=Lord Ronald Gower |year=1900 |title=Sir Thomas Lawrence |publisher=Goupil & co |location=London, Paris & New York |url=https://archive.org/details/sirthomaslawrenc00gowe/page/n233/mode/2up |page=83}}</ref> However, it is unclear as to who or what is the true subject of the picture.<ref>Carr et al. 2006, p. 48.</ref> Is it the royal daughter, or perhaps the painter himself? The king and queen are seen reflected in a mirror on the back wall, but the source of the reflection is a mystery: are the royal pair standing in the viewer's space, or does the mirror reflect the painting on which Velázquez is working? [[#References|Dale Brown]] says Velázquez may have conceived the faded image of the king and queen on the back wall as a foreshadowing of the fall of the [[Spanish Empire]] that was to gain momentum following Philip's death.

In the 1966 book ''Les Mots et Les Choses'' (''[[The Order of Things]]''), philosopher [[Michel Foucault]] devotes the opening chapter to a detailed analysis of {{Lang|es|Las Meninas}}. He describes the ways in which the painting problematizes issues of representation through its use of mirrors, screens, and the subsequent oscillations that occur between the image's interior, surface, and exterior.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

It is said the king painted the honorary ''[[Cross of Saint James]]'' of the [[Order of Santiago]] on the breast of the painter as it appears today on the canvas. However, Velázquez did not receive this honor of [[knighthood]] until three years after execution of this painting. Even the King of Spain could not make his favorite court painter a belted knight without the consent of the commission established to inquire into the [[cleanliness of blood|purity of his lineage]]. The aim of these inquiries would be to prevent the appointment to positions of anyone found to have even a taint of heresy in their lineage—that is, a trace of Jewish or Moorish blood or contamination by trade or commerce in either side of the family for many generations. The records of this commission have been found among the archives of the Order of Santiago. Velázquez was awarded the honor in 1659. His occupation as plebeian and tradesman was justified because, as painter to the king, he was evidently not involved in the practice of "selling" pictures.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

===Final years===
[[File:Velazquez figurando.jpg|thumb|Detail of {{Lang|es|[[Las Meninas]]}} (Velázquez's self-portrait)]]
[[File:Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez - Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Portrait of the eight-year-old ''Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress'' (1659)]]
There were essentially only two patrons of art in Spain—the church and the art-loving king and court. [[Bartolomé Esteban Murillo]], who toiled for a rich and powerful church, left little means to pay for his burial, while Velázquez lived and died in the enjoyment of a good salary and pension.

One of his final works was [[Las Hilanderas (Velázquez)|''Las hilanderas'' (''The Spinners'')]], painted circa 1657, a depiction of Ovid's Fable of [[Arachne]].<ref name="Sánchez_Grove"/> The tapestry in the background is based on [[Titian]]'s ''[[The Rape of Europa (Titian)|The Rape of Europa]]'', or, more probably, the copy that [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] painted in Madrid.<ref>Bird, Wendy. [http://apollo-magazine.co.uk/november-2007/319986/the-bobbin-and-the-distaff.thtml "The Bobbin and the Distaff"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811150919/http://apollo-magazine.co.uk/november-2007/319986/the-bobbin-and-the-distaff.thtml |date=11 August 2011}}, ''[[Apollo (magazine)|Apollo]]'', 1 November 2007. Retrieved on 28 May 2009.</ref> It is full of light, air and movement, featuring vibrant colors and careful handling. [[Anton Raphael Mengs]] said this work seemed to have been painted not by the hand but by the pure force of will. It displays a concentration of all the art-knowledge Velázquez had gathered during his long artistic career of more than forty years. The scheme is simple—a confluence of varied and blended red, bluish-green, gray and black.

Velázquez's final portraits of the royal children are among his finest works and in the ''[[Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress]]''<ref name="bilddatenbank.khm.at">Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien [http://bilddatenbank.khm.at/images/500/GG_2130_HP.jpg "Infantin Margarita Teresa (1651–1673) in blauem Kleid | Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez | 1659 | Inv. No.: GG_2130"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101011349/http://bilddatenbank.khm.at/images/500/GG_2130_HP.jpg |date=1 November 2013}} Retrieved on 27 January 2014.</ref> the painter's personal style reached its high-point: shimmering spots of color on wide painting surfaces produce an almost impressionistic effect—the viewer must stand at a suitable distance to get the impression of complete, three-dimensional spatiality.

His only surviving portrait of the delicate and sickly Prince Felipe Prospero<ref name="Kunsthistorisches Museum 1661">Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien [http://bilddatenbank.khm.at/images/500/GG_319_HP.jpg "Infant Philipp Prosper (1657–1661) | Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez | 1659 | Inv. No.: GG_319"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026115652/http://bilddatenbank.khm.at/images/500/GG_319_HP.jpg |date=26 October 2014 }} Retrieved on 27 January 2014.</ref> is remarkable for its combination of the sweet features of the child prince and his dog with a subtle sense of gloom. The hope that was placed at that time in the sole heir to the Spanish crown is reflected in the depiction: fresh red and white stand in contrast to late autumnal, morbid colors. A small dog with wide eyes looks at the viewer as if questioningly, and the largely pale background hints at a gloomy fate: the little prince was barely four years old when he died. As in all of the artist's late paintings, the handling of the colors is extraordinarily fluid and vibrant.

In 1660, a peace treaty between France and Spain was consummated by the marriage of [[Maria Theresa of Spain|Maria Theresa]] with [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], and the ceremony took place on the Island of Pheasants, a small swampy island in the [[Bidassoa]]. Velázquez was charged with the decoration of the Spanish pavilion and with the entire scenic display. He attracted much attention from the nobility of his bearing and the splendor of his costume. On 26 June he returned to Madrid, and on 31 July he was stricken with fever. Feeling his end approaching, he signed his will, appointing as his sole executors his wife and his firm friend named Fuensalida, keeper of the royal records. He died on 6 August 1660. He was buried in the Fuensalida vault of the church of [[Saint John the Baptist|San Juan Bautista]], and within eight days his wife Juana was buried beside him. This church was destroyed by the French around 1809, so his place of interment is now unknown.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/07/arts/arts-abroad-a-furor-for-velazquez-his-art-but-also-his-bones.html | work=The New York Times | first=Al | last=Goodman | title=ARTS ABROAD; A Furor for Velazquez: His Art but Also His Bones | date=7 September 1999}}</ref>

There was much difficulty in adjusting the tangled accounts outstanding between Velázquez and the treasury, and it was not until 1666, after the death of King Philip, that they were finally settled.