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The Rest Is History

Greatest Paintings: The Ghost of Spain – Velázquez’s Las Meninas

The Rest Is History

Goalhanger

History

4.626.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2026

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why does Diego Velázquez’ Las Meninas represent the fading Spanish Golden Age? How did he challenge the boundaries between viewer and artwork? And, in what ways does his defining style foreshadow Impressionism and serve as an indirect image of his own genius? In this new The Rest Is History Club series, Tom is joined by art critic and author Laura Cumming to discuss the histories behind famous paintings and put them in their historical contexts. FUTURE EPISODES....
 Feb 18th: The Skating Minister - Henry Raeburn
 Feb 25th: The Angelus - Jean-François Millet _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editors: Jack Meek + Harry Swan Social Producer: Harry Balden Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:30.2

hello everyone tom holland here and i am joined by the great great Laura coming and we are looking at painting in

0:40.9

history, four paintings that reflect a particular period in history. We'll be looking at the

0:46.4

history of the painting itself, the life of the artist and teasing out the mysteries that shadow

0:51.8

all four paintings.

0:58.7

And today we are looking at Las Meninas by Diego de la Velazquez,

1:01.9

the painting that Laura Cumming, who is joining me,

1:05.5

she sees it as the greatest painting of all time.

1:07.4

And we will be exploring why. Music Why?

1:25.9

Hello everybody and welcome to the second in our series on great paintings and how they relate to the historical context and all of that.

1:29.1

And my guest today, as it was in our first episode, the previous episode, The Great Laura Coming. And Laura, today, we are looking at a

1:34.7

painting that is very close to your heart. It is Las Meninas, so that is maid servants, ladies in

1:41.8

waiting, whatever, by Diego de Vales, the great 17th century

1:47.5

Spanish painter, Las Meninas, painted in 1656. And it's close to you both because you think it is,

1:56.6

what, the greatest painting? The greatest. The greatest. The greatest. Yes. But also, it's

2:01.6

personal to you, isn't it? It is. And I saw it without knowing I was going to see it, which is really

...

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