Greatest Paintings: The Ghost of Spain – Velázquez’s Las Meninas

Feb 11, 2026 6 min

About this episode

Why does Diego Velázquez’ Las Meninas represent the fading Spanish Golden Age? How did he challenge the boundaries between viewer and artwork? And, in what ways does his defining style foreshadow Impressionism and serve as an indirect image of his own genius? In this new The Rest Is History Club series, Tom is joined by art critic and author Laura Cumming to discuss the histories behind famous paintings and put them in their historical contexts. FUTURE EPISODES....  Feb 18th: The Skating Minister - Henry Raeburn  Feb 25th: The Angelus - Jean-François Millet _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editors: Jack Meek + Harry Swan Social Producer: Harry Balden Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to this episode in English to learn English

Podcast episodes are one of the highest-density ways to absorb English at native pace. Greatest Paintings: The Ghost of Spain – Velázquez’s Las Meninas from The Rest Is History gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.

In the Hinto app, every word in the transcript is tappable. Tap an unknown word, see the translation in your language instantly, and keep listening without breaking flow.

Episodes to Learn English

More podcasts in English