or of Philip VI and his queen?

还是腓力四世和他的皇后

Is that mirror showing a reflection of the royal couple

那面镜子中映出的 到底是委拉斯开兹

painted on Velazquez's canvas?

画布上的国王夫妇

Or the real king and queen who are actually present in the room?

还是当时就在现场的国王与皇后

Is the sudden attentiveness the beginnings of a curtsy on the

宫娥正准备行屈膝礼

part of the maid because

那一瞬间的专注

the royal couple have come into the studio...

是因为国王夫妇刚刚驾临画室

or are just departing?

还是刚要离开

It's full of games that play with the mind,

画中充满了头脑游戏

it's full of complicated layers of meaning,

以及复杂的 多层次的意义

all of which build into a meditation on which it is to paint.

这其中的深思熟虑 正是创作此画的基础

And they are so fiendishly ingenious that they have challenged

这些极其巧妙的构思挑战着

generation after generation of writers and commentators

一代又一代的作家 评论家 艺术家们

and artists to nail its ultimate meaning. And do you know?

来揭露它的根本含义 实话说

I don't think anyone has yet quite got to the bottom of it.

我认为这个问题至今无人找到答案

But if presumptuously I were to tell you in a sentence

但如果让我冒昧地用一句话概括

what I think it's about,

我对其的理解

I think it's about who or what, in every sense,

我认为这是关于在各个意义层面上

controls the way we look.

能够决定我们外在形象的人或物

The look we put on when we know we're being watched,

我们发现有人在看自己时的面部表情

our body language when we suddenly have to defer to authority,

我们突然需要屈服于权威时的肢体语言

the concentrated look of the artist glancing from subject

艺术家们反复审视描绘对象和画作时

to picture and back again.

全神贯注的眼神

There's really only one sovereign of staring here

这里只有一束目光是至高无上的

and it's not the king.

它并非来自国王

He only exists in the picture courtesy of the painter.

国王只是出于画家的施舍才出现在画中

The royal ego is shrunk and contained inside that small frame

皇室的自尊被缩小并框在小画框中

at the back of the room.

挂在房间的后墙上

A reversal of roles that was provocative in the West

这种角色对调在西方是挑衅性的

and inconceivable in the East,

在东方则是让人难以置信的

where anything so cheeky would get you in the deepest trouble.

它是如此放肆 足以让任何人身陷囹圄

And taking liberties with conventions didn't stop

君主已从画中消失

when monarchs went missing from the picture.

但这种挑战传统的行为并未停止

The Dutch Republic fought Spain

荷兰共和国为了自由

to a standstill to secure its freedom.

和西班牙战斗到最后一刻

But independence often goes along with civic myths

但主权独立总是和民间传说如影相随

and in Holland, the rich burgers of Amsterdam like to portray

在荷兰阿姆斯特丹 富有市民喜欢打扮成

themselves as vigilant militia companies,

时刻警戒的民兵队

ready at the drop of a hat to go off to war.

随时准备摘下帽子去打仗

Though, when they commissioned group portraits,

不过 当他们雇人画集体肖像的时候

what they actually wanted for their money

他们只是想花钱拿到

was just a bunch of likenesses.

一批相似的人物画像