What we learn from Foucault’s analysis is that the painting’s spatial structure indicates there are particular figures somehow residing outside the painting and yet are, in a seemingly paradoxical manner, literally included in the painting. There are of course two paintings, the one that we see as the spectator of Las Meninas and the one that is being painted by the Velázquez within the frame. Looking closely, we observe through the mirror at the back of the room King Philip IV and his second wife and niece Mariana of Austria, the apparent subjects of the painting within the frame. Unexpectedly, we see the painter himself, in the process of representation, and we also see a spectator, not unlike us, the viewer of the process, standing in the doorway. These, as theory tells us, are the three requirements of any work of art—the artist, the creation itself and the audience—and are here included not simply as representation of representation, but rather as an introduction to modernity.
With stones thieved from the Hindi and guns from the Danish, King Philip’s Portuguese soldiers built the
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Wellesley was named so in 1814 by King George III in honor of his military accomplishments, particularly at the Battle of Vitoria of 1813 against the French, which sent Napoleon into exile. This, as is well known, was followed by Napoleon’s last effort during the 100 Days in 1815, where he was defeated once and for all at Waterloo by Wellesley once again—lifetime Commander-in-Chief of the British Army with participation in over 60 battles during his life long. Known to never publicly show emotion, Wellesley broke down in tears after the Battle of Waterloo, it is said, having been overcome by grief, his body and heart and will diminished by the high mortal cost of the