LA VARA DE LA ENVIDIA EN LA TÚNICA DE JOSÉ DE VELÁZQUEZ. EN TORNO A SUS CLAVES SIMBÓLICAS.

In Joseph's bloodied coat, Velázquez refers to the envy Jacob's sons felt for the last but one of the brothers. Envy drove them to sell their brother as a slave and to pretend to their father that his son had died. Velázquez construes a perfectly articulated narrative through the space defined by two sticks lying on the ground, where he places the envious brothers according to their guilt. The work, painted during Velázquez's first trip to Italy, conceals messages regarding envy that are based on the biblical tale and on Ovidio's Metamorphosis. This paper endeavours to identify those references and to show how they are reflected in the picture. In this interpretation, the thorny stick between the legs of Judah, the sideways glance, the hand covering the mouth, the black garment and the shadowy space occupied by some of the figures acquire a new significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]