In this exercise, you need to read the text on pages 116-117 and mark these sentences as true or false, then correct the false ones.

1. Velázquez is mostly known as a religious painter.
**Falso**
*Velázquez es conocido sobre todo como pintor de retratos.*
Velázquez is mostly known as a portrait painter.

2. Velázquez was an impressionist painter who transformed his subject in his imagination.
**Falso**
*Velázquez era un pintor realista que imitaba y reproducía detalladamente lo que veía.*
Velázquez was a realist painter who imitated and reproduced in detail whatever he saw.

3. Generally, Velázquez used people on the street as models.
**Cierto**

4. In *El triunfo de Baco*, the Roman god of wine sits with Spanish townspeople.
**Cierto**

5. Velázquez painted exclusively the royal family and nobility.
**Falso**
*Velázquez también pintaba a la servidumbre.*
Velázquez also painted the servers.

6. Velázquez paints a self-portrait in *Las Meninas*.
**Falso**
*En Las Meninas, Velázquez pinta a la princesa Margarita, sus damas, enanos y un perro.*
In *Las Meninas*, Velázquez paints princess Margarita, her ladies, dwarves and a dog.

In this exercise, you need to read the text on pages 116-117 and answer these questions with full sentences.

1. Can you find evidence of the 17th century economic crisis in Velázquez’s paintings? Mention specific details.

You could answer:

*Sí, por ejemplo, en algunos de sus cuadros no había carne ni variedad en la comida en las mesas, y la gente está usando ropa típica de gente pobre, y se ve el cansancio en la cara de los campesinos.*
Yes, for example, in some of his paintings there wasn’t meat or variety in the food on the tables, and people are wearing the typical clothes of poor people, and you can see tiredness in the faces of townspeople.

2. What can you learn from *Vieja friendo huevos* that you might not be able to read in a history book?

You could answer:

*Puedes aprender cómo vivía la gente pobre en la época, qué comida comían y cómo se sentían.*
You can learn how poor people lived at the time, what they ate and how they felt.

3. Is *El triunfo de Baco* a realistic painting? Explain your answer.

You could answer:

*Es una pintura mitológica, pero el estilo es realista porque pinta con detalle a la gente y sus expresiones, usando gente real de modelo.*
It’s a mythological painting, but the style is realistic because he paints people and their expressions in detail, using real people as a model.

4. Are you surprised that Velázquez portrayed the servers of the court? Why?

You could answer:

*No, porque retrataba escenas cotidianas de la vida, no creo que quisiera dejar fuera a la gente cotidiana que vivía en la corte.*
No, because he portrayed daily scenes from life, I don’t believe he would want to leave the daily people who lived in the court out.

5. In what way is *Las Meninas* a mysterious painting?

You could answer:

*Es un cuadro misterioso porque produce muchas preguntas, no se sabe por qué eligió cada elemento del cuadro, o si es el reflejo de un espejo.*
It’s a mysterious painting because it produces many questions, it’s not known why he chose every element in the painting, or whether it’s the reflection of a mirror.

In this exercise, you need to read the text on pages 116-117 and answer these questions in pairs.

1. Through several details, *El triunfo de Baco* reveals a lot about the social position of the men in the painting. Study, for example, their clothes and looks to describe and analyze their economic situation. What is your conclusion?

You could answer:

*La ropa de los hombres en el cuadro es la ropa típica de los campesinos pobres, la ropa que usaban para trabajar todos los días hasta el cansancio. Se ven físicamente resistentes, pero flacos, por lo mucho que trabajan y lo poco que comen. Esto indica que son gente humilde que recibía poco dinero por su trabajo.*

The clothing of the men in the painting is the typical clothing of poor townspeople, the clothes they wore to work every day to tiredness. They look physically resistent but thin, because of how much they work and how little they eat. This indicates that they are humble people who got little money for their work.

2. Who or what is the real subject in *Las Meninas*? Is it the group of the princess? The king and queen? Velázquez himself? Art? Discuss the possibilities and present a theory about the story the painting presents.

You could answer:

*El cuadro puede estar presentando como sujeto al pintor mismo, y su tarea en la corte. Está retratando una escena de la vida diaria de la princesa, muy diferente a las escenas de la vida diaria que solía retratar, mientras el rey y la reina lo observan en el reflejo de un espejo. Esto representa que el pintor estaba constantemente bajo vigilancia.*

The painting might be presenting the artist himself and his task in the court as a subject. He is portraying a scene in the daily life of the princess, very different to the scenes from the daily lives he used to portray, while the king and queen watch him from the reflection of a mirror. This represents that the painter was constantly under vigilance.

In this exercise, you need to read the text on pages 116-117 and use these questions as a guide to compare how royalty entertained themselves in the past and how they do so in the present.

* Before, courts had buffoons. What do you think about the social situation of court buffoons? Is it ethical to use people for entertainment?

* What current royal families do you know? How do they live? Is their daily life different to that of their ancestors?

* Can one be a part of royalty and have a normal daily life?

You could answer:

*Los bufones de la corte eran como actores o payasos, con la diferencia de que el trato que recibían era diferente. Sería ético que las personas entretengan a la corte, como quienes representan una obra de teatro, pero no es ético el maltrato hacia ellos. Actualmente, las familias reales como la de Inglaterra o la de Holanda viven de manera diferente a sus ancestros, pero su vida es reservada y lujosa igualmente. No se puede ser parte de la realeza y tener una vida cotidiana normal, porque tienes muchas responsabilidades con la corte y con tu familia, y no puedes darles una mala reputación.*

Court buffoons were like actors or clowns, with the difference that they received different treatment. It would be ethical that people entertained the court, like those who put on a play, but treating them badly isn’t. Currently, royal families like the ones in England or the Netherlands live differently to their ancestors, but still live reserved and luxurious lives. You can’t be a part of royalty and have a normal daily life, because you have a lot of responsibilities with the court and your family, and can’t give them a bad reputation.

In this exercise, you need to read the text on pages 116-117 and imagine *Vieja friendo huevos* is a scene from your childhood. Describe that scene making up its story, what your grandmother was doing, how she spent her days, why were you in the kitchen that day? Use the past tenses you know.

So, you could write:

*Ese día, estaba en la casa de mi abuela porque mi madre estaba trabajando en el campo. Tenía mucha hambre porque no había desayunado, entonces fui a visitar a mi abuela en la cocina. Ella estaba ahí todos los días, cocinando mermeladas y dulces para venderle a la gente del pueblo. Le pedí que me convidara un poco, y ella me dio un trozo de pan.*

That day, I was at my grandmother’s house because my mother was working in the field. I was very hungry because I hadn’t had breakfast, so I went visit my grandmother in the kitchen. She was there every day, making jams and sweets to sell to the people in town. I asked her to share some with me, and she gave me a piece of bread.