Smoke and Mirrors - Velazquez and Las Meninas
21 October 2026 at 10:00:00
Winston Churchill Hall, Ruislip
Las Meninas by Velázquez, 1656
Often called "The Prince of Painters", Diego Velázquez is still a mystery to us - a mystery wrapped in an enigma, inside a locked box! Working for one man, King Philip IV of Spain, for almost his entire career, his functions at the palace involved long hours and heavy responsibilities, yet somehow Velázquez developed a way of painting unmatched by any before or since, though many talented artists have tried.
His technique and vision is at its greatest in the painting known as Las Meninas - a seeming "snapshot" of an insignificant moment in the day of the court - and yet .....
It has been marvelled at, written about, copied and loved since it was made – and called "a treatise on painting". In today’s lecture our Speaker, Ronnie Ireland, will try to unwrap for us at least some of the mystery surrounding this unparallelled achievement.
Ronnie Ireland was born and educated in Glasgow at the Glasgow School of Art, Jordanhill College and The Open University, moving to southern England, where he is now based, in 2012.
He exhibits his own work, teaches art and gives lectures on art history, his main interest being in the How and Why of art: why did the artist make this; how did they make this: and crucially, how do these two aspects interact? He is also involved in organising, performing and writing music in parallel with visual art.
Ronnie Ireland