The thread spinners diego velazquez biography

One of the most famous of the paintings by Velázquez, and an example of his great mythological works, is The Fable of Arachne (Las Hilanderas), also known as The Tapestry Weavers or The Spinners. It was painted not for the king but for a private patron.

The mythological story of the contest between the goddess Athena (Minerva to the Romans) and the mortal woman Arachne was perhaps told best by the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses (Book VI).

According to Ovid, Arachne lived in the country of Lydia (which had a legendary reputation for producing some of the most splendid textiles in the ancient world), where she matured into one of the finest weavers ever known. Arachne was in fact so adept at weaving that she became arrogant, and claimed that her ability rivaled that of the goddess Athena.

Athena, as the patron deity of weavers and quite an accomplished weaver herself, immediately took notice of Arachne, and travelled to Lydia in order to confront the boastful woman. There th