Las Meninas

 

This painting created by Diego Velazquez, is another example of the rising status of an artist. In this painting there are two children, a female midge,t a little boy and a dog. They all appear to be doing things with little significance. Almost like they're living their everyday lives, well that's because they are. In the background we see paintings and what looks to be a mirror. The mirror has a reflection of the painting that we can't see that Diego Velazquez has just painted. Velazquez looks outwards, beyond the pictorial space to where a viewer of the painting would stand. This painting demonstrates how far an artist can go with hard work, talent and dedication. It has been described as "Velasquez's supreme achievement, a highly self-conscious, calculated demonstration of what painting could achieve, and perhaps the most searching comment ever made on the possibilities of the easel painting".This painting, offers a complex composition built with admirable skill in the use of perspective, the depiction of light, and the representation of atmosphere.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas 

http://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/on-line-gallery/obra/the-family-of-felipe-iv-or-las-meninas/