6. What does Las Meninas portray? What makes Las Meninas Velazquez's masterpiece? What are the figures depicted in this picture doing? What is Las Meninas (a group portrait, a self-portrait or a genre painting)?
III. I. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:
to be appointed court painter; to settle permanently in; royal household; to get the rank of; Court Chamberlain; a residence attached to the palace; members of the royal family and court; the integrity of one's style; the characteristic devices; allegorical figures; to be attached to nature; freedom of the brush; throughout the life; principles of composition; Caravaggesques realism; numerous reminiscences; a Mediterranean painter; to fall under the influence of; the studio in the royal palace; to work upon a canvas; to create the illusion of form unique in scale; to pay the painter a visit; dwarfs; to honour the painter with the presence; informality of the subject; interlocking pyramids.
II. Give English equivalents of the following phrases:
целостность стиля; иллюзия формы; члены королевской семьи и двора; принципы композиции и рисунка; предшествующий век; получить должность; придворный художник; ряд пересекающихся пирамид; карлики; в светотени; аллегорические образы; типичные атрибуты; гофмейстер; свобода мазка; многочисленные цитаты из; постоянно поселиться в; трактовка направления; средиземноморский художник; уникальная по масштабу картина; почтить своим присутствием студию художника.
III. Make up sentences ofyour own with the given phrases.
IV. Arrange the following in the pairs of synonyms:
a) local; court; trip; interpret; supreme; reminiscences; dwarfs; demonstrate; appoint; attain;
b) royal household; render; exquisite; quotations; Lilliputians; show; place; gain; journey; native.
IV. Here are descriptions of some of Velazquez's works of art. Match them up to the given titles…
1. The mirror alongside the door re- flects the King and Queen, who honour the painter with their presence.
2. Crowned with wine leaves himself he mischievously puts a crown upon a kneeling worshiper.
3. The painting is noted for its clas- sical equilibrium.
4. This painting is one of the most significant of Velazquez's mythological works.
a. Triumph of Bacchus
b. Surrender of Breda
c. The Weavers
d. Las Meninas
V. Translate the text into English.
Диего Родригос де Сильва Веласкес – выдающийся художник «золотого испанского века», родился в Севилье, учился у местного художника Франсиско Пачеко.
В 1626 г. Веласкес переехал в Мадрид и стал придворным художником короля Филиппа IV. В 1627 г. художник получил звание гофмейстера. После знакомства с Рубенсом, который посетил Испанию в 1628 г. Веласкес отправился в Италию, где провел три года. Работы итальянских художников оказали большое влияние на Веласкеса. Его стиль стал более свободным и блестящим, колорит менее темным в тенях.
В конце 20-х годов Веласкес написал картину «Вакх». Эту мифологическую сцену он интерпретировал как жанровую. Идеализации нет даже в фигуре самого Вакха. Контрасты света и тени, золотистый тон – все типичные черты караваджизма, переплетаются с характерными только для Веласкеса чертами.
В последнее десятилетие жизни художник написал три самых известных картины: «Венера с зеркалом», «Менины», «Пряхи». «Менины» – это, по своей сути, групповой портрет. Художник, а это автопортрет самого Веласкеса, у мольберта пишет короля и королеву, отражение которых зрители видят в зеркале. На переднем плане изображена инфанта Маргарита в окружении фрейлин, карлицы, придворных и собаки. В дверях художник поместил фигуру канцлера. Композиция картины объединяет черты группового портрета и жанровой картины. Влияние Веласкеса на искусство последующих веков велико. Он вдохновлял художников от романтиков до постимпрессионистов.
VI. Summarize the text.
VII. Topics for discussion.
1. Velazquez's realism.
2. Velazquez's artistic heritage.
Unit XIV The 'Little Masters'
The open market system, under which Dutch pictures were sold, produced artists skilful in painting a particular type of subject. They specialized in landscapes, riverscapes, seascapes, city-scapes, travelscapes; skating scenes, moonlight scenes, shipping and naval battles; interiors, exteriors; gardens, polite conversations, parlour intrigue, housekeeping, tavern brawls; hunting scenes, churches, still lifes and portraits, single, double, or group.
At least forty of the 'little masters' are very talented.
An early leader of Dutch landscape painting, Jan van Goyen (1596-1656), was one of the Dutch masters to place human figures to a position in which they could no longer determine the mood of a scene but merely establish the scale. Van Goyen was fascinated by water. But the celestial architecture of shifting clouds was even more important than water in his landscapes. In River Scene, painted by Van Goyen shortly before his death, the land with fishermen's cottages, windmills, and a distant church, is visible only in tiny patches. All else is clouds and water, save for two boats moving slowly toward the centre. People are mere spots, as are the flying gulls. An almost monochromatic vision, limited to translucent browns in the foreground and grey greens elsewhere, is registered by means of light, shimmering water, and distant land.
A View of Haarlem, of about 1670, by Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-82), opens up an immense prospect from the vantage point of the dunes. The city appears only on the flat horizon, a sparkle of windmills and spires is dominated by the mass of the Great Church. The immensity of the space is increased by the light falling from between clouds on the farmhouses and the linens whitening in the foreground. The birds fly higher and the clouds seem more remote than in Van Goyen's picture.
One of the greatest Dutch landscapes is the Avenue at Middelbarnis, of 1689, by Meyndert Hobbema (1638-1709), Ruisdael's pupil. Constructed on the humble theme of a rutted country road plunging into the picture between feathery trees that have long lost lower branches for use as firewood, the spatial climax is compelling.