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In a tapestry workshop, women spin and wind wool in the foreground, while in a bright room behind, elegant ladies look at a tapestry before which the goddess Athena confronts the weaver Arachne. Painted around 1655–1660, Las Hilanderas is one of Velázquez's most mysterious works.
In this article
A workshop scene
For a long time, Las Hilanderas, "The Spinners", was thought to be a simple scene of women working in the royal tapestry factory of Santa Isabel in Madrid. In 1948 the historian Diego Angulo showed that it has a hidden subject: the myth of Arachne, told by the Roman poet Ovid. Its full title is now The Spinners, or The Fable of Arachne.
Velázquez painted it around 1655–1660, late in his career, for a private collector, Pedro de Arce, a huntsman of King Philip IV.
The spinning wheel
On the left, an older woman works at a spinning wheel. Its spokes are painted as a blur, as if they were turning so fast that the eye cannot follow them, an extraordinary effect of motion achieved with a few strokes, centuries before photography.
Detail 1
The turning wheel
The spokes of the spinning wheel dissolve into a blur, one of the first depictions of motion in painting.
Detail 2The old spinner
The old woman at the wheel turns to speak to a companion, her face lit by the window.
The young woman winding yarn
On the right, a young woman with her back to us winds yarn into a ball, her white blouse and bare neck lit by a ray of sunlight. Her graceful pose is one of the most beautiful in Spanish painting.
Detail 3Winding the yarn
Seen from behind, a young woman winds wool into a ball, her white blouse catching the light.
The myth in the background
In a bright alcove at the back, elegant ladies look at a tapestry. In front of it, two figures enact the myth: Athena, goddess of weaving, wearing a helmet and raising her arm, and Arachne, a young mortal who boasted that she wove better than the goddess. Arachne won the contest with a tapestry showing the loves of the gods, and the angry Athena turned her into a spider.
The tapestry behind them reproduces Titian's painting The Rape of Europa, then in the Spanish royal collection, the subject Arachne wove in Ovid's story. Velázquez thus pays tribute to Titian, the great master of painting.
Detail 4Athena and Arachne
In the bright room, the goddess Athena in her helmet confronts Arachne before a tapestry based on Titian's Rape of Europa.
A meaning about art
Many interpret the painting as a reflection on art: the humble craft of spinning in the foreground leads to the art of weaving and painting in the background, and to the rivalry between human creativity and divine power. In the foreground, a cat sleeps on the floor among scraps of wool.
Detail 5The cat among the wool
A cat curls up on the floor among the balls of yarn, a homely detail in a painting about art and myth.
Seeing Las Hilanderas
The painting was enlarged in the eighteenth century with strips added on all sides. It now measures about 2.2 by 2.9 metres and hangs in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
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What does Las Hilanderas mean?
Las Hilanderas means "The Spinners", referring to the women spinning in the foreground.
What myth is hidden in Las Hilanderas?
The background shows the myth of Arachne, a weaver who challenged the goddess Athena and was turned into a spider.
What tapestry appears in the background?
It reproduces Titian's painting The Rape of Europa, the subject Arachne wove in Ovid's story.
Where is Las Hilanderas?
It is in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
Sources and further reading
- Museo del Prado, collection notes on The Spinners, or The Fable of Arachne
- Diego Angulo Íñiguez, Las Hilanderas (1948)
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book VI
