Velázquez and Las Meninas

When that reticent artist, Diego Velàzquez, placed an image of himself standing boldly before his easel (Fig. 1) in the painting now generally known as Las Meninas, he provided a clearly personal clue to the puzzle of the meaning of this great picture (Fig. 2). The huge canvas that dominates the left side of his composition underscores the significance that the painter intended his presence in this scene to convey. He depicted himself as a painter at work, but he is looking neither at the canvas before him nor at any of his companions. His steady gaze is directed toward where we are, outside the picture. What, then, is his relation to the other figures in the scene?