To all the sea of false appearances in the photographs of the kings, the setting that has been chosen unites theirs; The door that appears next to Letzia does not lead anywhere, it is false; He is alone so as not to break the game. Letizia and the false door is one more element of perhaps involuntary symbolism
Of the photographs that Annie Leibovitz has taken of the kings of Spain, the appearance that the viewer receives has been commented on. There has been talk about the clothing and attitude, the color, the division into two of the same perspective, the position strangely close to the frame of the figure of Felipe, etc. It has also been pointed out that some horizontal lines are inclined in the image, or that in many aspects the attention is directed more to the figure of the queen. And also that it contains some editing work, post-processing with a computer.
The latter is true, and when analyzing the image it is clear that it is to an extreme degree. The two images can be brought together to form a single image, because the convergence of the general lines of perspective coincides. If we take that image together, it seems to result in a photograph whose perspective has three vanishing points, two for the horizontal lines (edges of the ceiling, the floor, the openings), but also one vanishing point for the vertical ones.
These perspectives with three vanishing points allow a geometric analysis to be carried out with relative safety. It can be done in order to determine where the point of view (the camera) was and where the lens was directed, including the proportions of the objects represented. In this case, such an analysis leads to very strange results, which do not completely agree with the proportions that we know of the room and its elements. It is possible that the entire image has been distorted, to achieve a better, more modern result or to hide unwanted effects.
But, in addition, you can find a good collection of particular details that are undoubtedly the result of artificial alteration. In the room there is a round table and a large lamp, both really in the center. In the image, the table (no doubt very heavy) is not under the lamp. It may have been moved or perhaps the lamp has been artificially placed in another location. In the background you can see a fireplace and a vertical mirror above it. Depending on the relative positions of the lamp, the point of view and the mirror, it would be impossible for it to be reflected in the way that can be seen. As there is another mirror in front, one is reflected in the other to infinity, in a series that is accompanied by indefinite repetition of the lamp, but in which the lamp that is seen does not match, not in reflection, but directly.
The corner of the room behind Letizia is actually a small chamfer clearly marked by two vertical bands of light tone. Perhaps to avoid placing such striking lines on the figure’s head, that corner remains strangely diffuse and obscured. The drawing of the floor between the figure of the queen and the window does not correspond to reality, but it is so baroque and complicated that this goes unnoticed. If we took the heights of the figures of the kings, according to the apparent perspective, to their comparison with doors and windows, after this operation they would be revealed to be somewhat larger than they should be. About the figures themselves, since they do not present a geometric structure, it is difficult to say anything, but it is not the first time that the author moves or “pastes” a figure in a place where it really is not.
The entire room presents a rococo and exuberant decoration, not very rational and not at all geometric, which facilitates this type of alterations, perhaps as much as its opposite, a smooth background, also used on other occasions by Leibovitz.
The flight of the horizontal lines of the back wall is not a big problem for the female figure, but in the king’s figure, with no other direction to counteract it, it draws attention. This is what has worried viewers the most. It produces a sensation that can be interpreted as instability, or, one might think, modernity.
The instability, the secondary character of the figure of Felipe, taking his feet to the limit, the perspective outside of all conventionality, may seem like brave ways of renewing the forms or a curious criticism of the monarchy. I don’t think it’s the latter, but these photographs could well symbolize the complete opposite of what the institution usually seeks in its usual staging. It could be the result of the view of a detractor of those portrayed and their role.
Naturally, we cannot compare these portraits of the institution with those that traditional painting offered us, and it is truly naive to compare them with the works of past centuries. But the traps and alterations that these photographs contain bring the work done closer to painting, graphic art, and cybernetic collage, than to photography. They are not photography.
The Gasparini room preserves a historical decoration that sought harmonies and correspondences, especially in the coordination of the doors that lead to other spaces, which are of very different proportions and present their own requirements. Longer walls do not achieve symmetry, but they do achieve the continuous distribution of elements: mirror, door, mirror, door. To all the sea of false appearances already described, the scenario that has been chosen unites its own; The door that appears next to Letizia does not lead anywhere, it is false; He is alone so as not to break the game. Letizia and the false door is one more element of perhaps involuntary symbolism.
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