VELAZQUEZ, Diego
Las Meninas
1656
Oil on canvas
10′5″ x 9′1″
Museo del Prado, Madrid

This is a blog entry I wrote a while ago, slight altered, but with the same ideas intact. Recently the inspiration of an essay I’m writing, I thought I would post it again here.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to travel around Spain with my aunt. It was absolutely amazing to go for so many reasons. Despite the overabundance of museums in Spain, El Prado still enticed us with promises of works by Picasso, Gaudi and El Greco. Our vacation had become a lesson in art history prior to which I had not heard of Velazquez, a 17^th century court painter from Madrid. Yet his painting stood before me – overwhelming, magnificent and precise. An amateur painter myself, I approached his masterpiece with eager anticipation. On the left-hand side, Velazquez himself contemplates an oversized canvas that we cannot see. Infanta Margerita, daughter of the Spanish King and Queen, stands dignified in the center. She is surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting, who appease her by bringing court-appointed entertainers: the jester and a dwarf.

The painting gained artistic merit by Velazquez’s departure from the norm; he reversed the role of the viewer by painting himself inside the frame, breaking down the boundary inherent in art. However from the perspective of a scientist the painting reveals other meanings. In 17^th century Spain it was common practice to promote mating between people afflicted with dwarfism in order to select for the same condition. Oblivious or indifferent to the additional health complications that could arise, this was done purely for the entertainment of the court. Scientifically accurate, one can observe that Velazquez portrayed two types of dwarfism in his painting, achondroplasia and growth hormone deficiency. Maribarbola, the female dwarf standing closest to la infanta Margerita, had achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism where they have a normal size trunk with short limbs. Apparently this is the most common type. The other dwarf (introduced as the court jester in the audioguide), Nicolasito, had a growth hormone deficiency as his limbs and features are in proportion with the rest of his body. By depicting the Infanta and the dwarfs on the same level, Velazquez tells of the injustices in society facing people affected by a genetic condition and of our continual struggle towards equality. However, it is inspiring that education about the biological basis for a condition may help to dispel judgment.

Velazquez’s painting shows how science can define itself within other disciplines, and how it can provide an explanatory framework in an unexpected context- the reason why people (like me) enjoy and love the study of science :)