"Vulcan's Forge" by Diego Velazquez

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VULCAN’S FORGE Diego Velázquez

PATRICIA LÓPEZ MORAIS. JAVIER VARELA LÓPEZ. 4ºESO. DATE: 09/03/2015


Table of contents 1.

Introduction……………………………………………………………………...P. 2

2.

Formal analysis………………………………………...………………………...P. 2

3.

2.1.

Basic facts…………………………………..…………………………...P. 2

2.2.

Subject matter / Description.………………...…………………………...P. 3

2.3.

Formal qualities……………………………...…………………………...P. 3

2.4.

Style……………………...……………………………………………...P. 4

2.5.

Interpretation……………...………...…………………………………...P. 4

2.6.

Context……………………..…………………………………………...P. 5

2.7.

Judgement…………………..…………………………………………...P. 5 2.7.1.

Patricia’s opinion………………………………………………...P. 5

2.7.2.

Javier’s opinion………………………………………………….P. 6

The story behind it……………………………………………………..………...P. 6 3.1.

Patricia's story…………………………………………………………...P. 6

3.2.

Javier's story…………………………………………..………………...P. 6

4.

Conclusion…………………………………………………….………………...P. 7

5.

Bibliography…………………………………………………...………………...P. 8

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1. Introduction. We are Patricia and Javier, two galician art dealers who manage a very famous art gallery in A Coruña, called “Cores”. Before the fundation of this art gallery, we have worked with the most famous art dealers in the world like David Zwirner. In this project we are going to analyze “Vulcan’s forge” by Diego Velázquez. We chose this painting because when we saw it we got impressed because of the red colour of the metal that is in the forge Diego Velázquez was born in Sevilla in 1599. He belongs to the Baroque movement with other famous painters like Bernini or Caravaggio. His most famous artwork is “Las Meninas”. When he was 24 years old he went to Madrid and there he works for the royalty and for another famous people like Luís de Góngora. During the rest of his life he travelled around the world painting other artworks. Finally, he died in Madrid in 1660.

2. Formal analysis. 2.1. Basic facts. This atwork was in the “Palacio del Buen Retiro” but actually it is in the “Museo del Prado”.

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2.2. Subject matter / Description. In this painting, we can see six characters in a forge, that is in Etna mountain. In this place there are a lot of tools related to the forge, for example a hammer, an anvil… The character on the left that is wearing an orange tunic is Apollo. He came to Vulcan’s forge to say Vulcano that his wife, Venus, was unfaithful with Marte. Vulcano is the character that is wearing ​ a white hairband and his face represents the surprise that the news of Apollo causes in him and with him there are four men that are workers of the forge, and they have nude torsos because of the high temperature. The subject of this painting is the visit of Apollo to Vulcano to tell him that his wife was unfaithful with Marte.Velázquez was inspired by the book “Metamorfosis” by Ovideo. Velazquez was inspired in classical sculpture to paint the artwork during his first trip to Italia too, for example Apollo was inspired in the sculpture "Apolo del Belvedere". This artwork wasn’t modified from the original.

2.3. Formal qualities. Diego Velázquez used oil technique to paint this artwork. In the foregrond we can see three men, Vulcano, Apollo and a lot of forge tools. In the middle ground there is a worker that is looking at the other men, a forge, a door that is open and some tools on the wall. Finally, in the background we can see the rest of the room. 3


He used the perspective straight on to paint this artwork. Generally, he used dark colours but to emphasise some important parts of the painting he used strong and clear colours. In the painting, we can see an atmosphere of surprise because of the faces of the men. In the period of Velazquez the painting was undervalued and for this reason during their life, Velazquez and other famous painters tried that the painting had prestige. In reality, the men that are in the artwork are cyclops but Velazquez didn't paint them with one eye but as normal men. And, Vulcano is a lame god but he painted him like a normal worker. In the painting, we can see a lot of tools because Velazquez likes the still life and it has got half­naked men because of Velazquez's appreciation to the human body.

2.4. Style. Diego Veláquez belongs to the Baroque movement, we can know it because in his painting he manipulates very well both light and colour. This artwork represents a moment of the greek mitology, exactly when Apollo goes to Vulcan’s forge to comunicate a news to Vulcano. "ArteHistoria" critics explain that the artworks of this period that represent the unfaithfulness between a couple are different from this painting. They say this because in "Vulcan's forge", Velazquez painted the person (Apollo) who discovers the unfaithfulness of one of the members of the couple (in this case the unfaithfulness of Venus with Marte), but in the other artworks the painters only represent the lover.

2.5. Interpretation. In this artwork Diego Velázquez wanted to represent a mythological moment with his particular and mocking point of view. The painting was painted during a travel in Roma and Velázquez was inspired by his studies and the objectivity that he learned in Sevilla. Initially Velázquez painted Vulcan’s forge and he preserved it during a long time but finally he sold it to the kingdom.

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This painting is made this way to contrast the different facial expressions of the characters when Apollo comunicates the message to Vulcano. The principal emotions that this artwork convey are surprise and irritation.

2.6. Context. Diego Velázquez painted around 125 paintings. ​ “Vulcan’s forge” is one of his most famous artworks. But he painted other many important artworks, for example: ​ “The maids of honour ” painted in 1656 and it is an image where we can see the infante, Margarita de Austria, that is surrounded of her sirvients. This painting is different from the others because in it there is a self­portrait of Velázquez that is painting. This is the most important painting of our painter. Other of his works are ​ “The spinners ” ​ (1657) that is a painting where we can see a tapestry studio with five women (spinners). One of these women is Aracne who weaves very well and other is Atenea, a god, who is jealous of her. In the background of this artwork there are three rich women that is looking at a tapestry; ​ “The surrender of Breda ” ​ painted between 1634 and 1635. In it we can see a lot of men and the man that has the key of Breda is trying to kneel but other doesn’t let him in order not to be humiliated. In the background there are a lot of spears; “Portrait of Pope Innocent X”​ (1650) that is a portrait of Inocencio X who was a Pope; ​ “Old woman frying eggs” painted in 1618 and it is a painting where we can see an old woman who is frying two eggs in a small and dark kitchen. The old woman has got other egg in the hand but she raises her head when a man with a pumpkin approaches her. “Joseph's tunic” ​ (1630) where we can see six men that are a father called Jacob, with his sons. The sons tell his father that his favourite son was killed by some wolves but in reality, they sold him to an Egyptian because they were jaelous of him.

2.7. Judgement. 2.7.1. Patricia's opinion: I think that this is a very good work because Velázquez painted this artwork by choice, and the paintings that are created this way are the best (works.) 5


And for me it is very important that the artists represent the different moments of the mythology. I think this because if they represent these moments, we can know the different myths of the history.

2.7.2. Javier's opinion: My opinion is that this artwork is a great representation of a mythological moment. I think it because the men in the painting seem real and Velázquez represented very well the expressions in their faces. I think also that in this artwork the use of colour is very good because the author emphasises the important parts of the painting using different tonalities of the same colour.

3. The story behind it. 3.1. Patricia's story. When I saw this artwork for the first time, I thought that the men who are working in the forge were normal workers and the person who has got a crown was an angel. I thought that the men were working in a place similar to a pantry and that they were half­naked because of the hot. Because of the landscape, I believed that they were near a mountain. The story that I imagined is that the men who were common people lived with their wifes and their sons in the village, but they hadn’t got a lot of money. For this reason, they worked a lot to get money to survive. In spite of this, they were happy with their modest life because they didn’t want the money of the aristocracy. One day, while the men were working in the forge, an angel went through the door. He came to comunicate them that if they continue to work that way, their families wouldn 't return to be hungry, because the gods of the Olympus would provide them with food and other necessities to get their survival. This is the reason of the expression of surprise in the workers' face.

3.2. Javier's story. When I saw this artwork for the first time I thought in religion. The story that I imagined was that an angel visits this forge to transmit a message from god to the blacksmith, this message is

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related to the construction of some metal gadget. He accepted the mission and everybody feared to do it wrong.

4. Conclusion. In this project we have learned that Velázquez is one of the most important painters of the Baroque period. In his artworks we can see different characteristics, for example, the use of colour and perspective, depth… We also learned how to analyse the different parts of an artwork and how to judge subjectively a painting. For Javier the best of the project to discover the real story of the artwork and the worst was to compare this painting with others by this author. For Patricia the best of the project was to know the different parts of this artwork and to analyse them and the worst to compare this painting with the others by Velázquez too. 7


5. Bibliography.

● Images: ○ Diego Velázquez. “Vulcan’s forge”. 1630. JPG. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_fragua_de_Vulcano#mediaviewer/File:Vel%C3 %A1zquez_­_La_Fragua_de_Vulcano_(Museo_del_Prado,_1630).jpg​ ] Consulted: 06­03­2015 ○ Diego Velázquez. “The spiners”. 1657. JPG. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_f%C3%A1bula_de_Aracne#mediaviewer/File:V elazquez­las_hilanderas.jpg​ ] Consulted: 06­03­2015 ○ Diego Velázquez. “Portrait of pope Innocent X”. 1650. JPG. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inocencio_X_(pintura)#mediaviewer/File:Retrato_de l_Papa_Inocencio_X._Roma,_by_Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez.jpg​ ] Consulted: 06­03­2015 ○ Diego Velázquez. “The maids of honour”. 1656. JPG. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez#mediaviewer/File:Autorr etrato_de_Vel%C3%A1zquez_en_las_Meninas.jpg​ ] Consulted: 05 ­ 03 ­ 2015. ○ Diego Velázquez. “The surrender of Breda”. 1634­1635. JPG. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_rendici%C3%B3n_de_Breda#mediaviewer/File: Velazquez­The_Surrender_of_Breda.jpg​ ] Consulted: 06­03­2015 ○ Montrealais. “Unknown”. 2005. JPG. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_del_Prado#mediaviewer/File:Madrid­prado.j pg​ ] Consulted: 05 ­ 03 ­ 2015.

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○ Diego Velázquez. “Josephs’s tunic”. 1630. JPG. [​ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez_065.jpg​ ] Consulted: 06 ­ 03 ­ 2015. ○ Diego Velázuqez. “Old woman frying egs”. 1618. JPG. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vieja_friendo_huevos#mediaviewer/File:VEL%C3 %81ZQUEZ_­_Vieja_friendo_huevos_(National_Galleries_of_Scotland,_1618._ %C3%93leo_sobre_lienzo,_100.5_x_119.5_cm).jpg​ ] Consulted: 06­03­2015.

● Information: ○ “La Fragua de Vulcano”. Tomas Llorens. 2006. ​ El País (online) [​ http://elpais.com/diario/2006/10/18/cultura/1161122402_850215.html​ ] Consulted: 06 ­ 03 ­ 2015 ○ “Diego Velázquez. Biografía y obra”. ArteEspaña. 2005. [​ http://www.arteespana.com/velazquez.htm​ ] Consulted: 06 ­ 03 ­ 2015 ○ “Velázquez. “Los borrachos” y “La fragua de Vulcano”.Gloria Ramé. 2012. [​ http://arteaula23.blogspot.com.es/2012/10/velazquez­los­borrachos­y­la­fragua­d e.html​ ] Consulted: 06 ­ 03 ­ 2015 ○ “Barroco español”. ArteHistoria. [​ http://www.artehistoria.com/v2/estilos/5.htm​ ] Consulted: 06 ­ 03 ­ 2015 ○ “Velázquez: La fragua de Vulcano”. Fernando Martínez. 2009. [​ http://contemplalaobra.blogspot.com.es/2009/05/velazquez­la­fragua­de­vulcano. html​ ] Consulted: 06 ­ 03 ­ 2015 ○ “Pintura del barroco”. Wikipedia. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pintura_del_Barroco​ ] Consulted: 06 ­ 03 ­ 2015 9


○ “La fragua de Vulcano”. EPA Pontevedra. [​ http://www.epapontevedra.com/arte/Comentarios2/La%20fragua%20de%20Vulc ano.htm​ ] Consulted: 06 ­ 03 ­ 2015 ○ “Diego Veazquez”. Wikipeda. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez​ ] Consulted: 06­03­2015 ○ “La fragua de Vulcano”. Wikipedia. [​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_fragua_de_Vulcano​ ] Consulted: 06­03­2015 10


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