Las Hilanderas or The Fable of Arachne (c. 1657)

Las Hilanderas is one of the most famous of the paintings by Velázquez. In its composition, the artist looks back to his bodegones, where two different areas and two planes of reality balance each other. The everyday scene in the foreground shows a plainly furnished room where women are at work spinning. On the left, an elderly woman is at the spinning wheel, while the young woman seated to the right is winding yam. Three other women are bringing more wool and sorting through the remnants. There is a second room in the background, in an alcove reached by steps. It is flooded with light and contains several elegantly dressed women. The woman on the left wearing an antique helmet and with her arm raised is a figure of Athena. Opposite her stands the young Arachne, who has committed the sacrilegious act of comparing her skill in weaving with the goddess's. She has begun their competition with a tapestry showing one of the love affairs of Jupiter, the rape of Europa.