Modern Painting The Spinners Copy from Velazquez XX Century

Oil on canvas. Signed lower right "J. Dupont da Velzquez". This is a copy of Diego Velazquez's famous masterpiece, painted around 1657 and housed at the Prado Museum. Until the mid-20th century, the painting was titled "The Tapestry Factory of Santa Isabel in Madrid": only in 1948 did studies by art historian and critic Diego Angulo Íñiguez identify a connection between the painting and the ancient Greek myth of Arachne. In the foreground, several spinners work in a bare, dimly lit room, with a soft light reflected from the background. Five women are depicted: on the left, in the dim light, the eldest spinner operates the reel; in front of her, on the right, in full light, a young girl is collecting thread on the reel; They are respectively the representations of Athena, still hidden under false guise, and the human Arachne, during their contest. The other three women are merely surrounding elements; the central one is merely a static silhouette. In the background, central and illuminated by a powerful beam of light emerging from the left, and enlivened by the bright colors of the tapestry and the robes, is the scene of the goddess's revelation to the woman. Compared to the original, this copy, while faithful in the figures and details depicted, is painted with more nuanced brushstrokes and less defined outlines, as well as less vibrant colors. The work is presented in a frame.