The Fable of Arachne, or The Tapestry Weavers, Prado Museum, Madrid at Spain is culture.

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Outstanding works / Baroque and Spanish Golden Age / Prado Museum

The Fable of Arachne, or The Tapestry Weavers

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‘The Fable of Arachne or The Tapestry Weavers’ © Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

Category

Painting

Date

1655 - 1660

Artist

Diego Velázquez

Cultural background

Spanish School

Original title

La fábula de Aracne, o Las Hilanderas

Prado Museum
Madrid
Madrid

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A masterpiece by Velázquez. It has a highly complex iconography. It represents the myth of Arachne under the guise of an everyday scene in the Santa Isabel Royal Tapestry Factory.

It has been interpreted as an allegory of the noble vocation of painting and an affirmation of the supremacy of Velázquez himself.

The myth is depicted on two planes. In the background, the rape of Europa is shown woven into the tapestry hanging on the wall, and in front, Athenea is seen chastising Arachne. The women observing this, who could be mistaken for customers of the factory, are in fact the young Lydians who witnessed the incident. The spinners in the foreground are thought to represent the competition between Athenea (spinning at the wheel) and Arachne (winding a skein).

The work was damaged in the fire in the 1734 fire in the Alcázar palace in Madrid and during the restoration the dimensions were altered.