"Recent studies of Las Meninas, inspired by the ideas of Michel Foucault, have paid considerable attention to the seemingly novel relationship between the scene on the canvas and  the spectator.  These ideas tacitly assume that the picture was meant to be seen by the public-at-large., as if it were hanging in an important museum, as it is today.  ...However. the original placement indicates that this is not the case.  In 1666, the year after the death of Philip IV, Las Meninas was inventoried in a room known as ...the office in the summer quarters, ...a room destined for the personal use of the king." (Brown 259).

p. 258

Larger picture

the royal family  Brown. p. 257

the painter  Brown. p. 257