Public sale records, not an appraisal

How much is Las Meninas worth?

Las Meninas is not for sale: it is held by the Museo del Prado, Madrid, so it has no market price. The closest guide is Velázquez's highest documented sale: $17 million for Saint Rufina, at Sotheby's London in 2007. Prints and posters of it usually sell for $5–$250, and hand-painted copies for $100–$800.

Artist: Diego Velázquez
Date: 1656
Medium: Oil on canvas
Held by: Museo del Prado, Madrid

Velázquez's record$17MSaint Rufina · 2007

Own a print or copy of Las Meninas?

Most copies of Las Meninas in homes are prints, posters or hand-painted copies. They sell as decorative pieces, not as Velázquez's work. These are the resale ranges Art Scanner's value estimate starts from.

Poster or unframed print$5–$60

Framed decorative or museum-shop print$40–$250

Large framed archival print$150–$800

Hand-painted copy$100–$800

An oil copy painted by hand, often sold as decor

Resale value in US dollars on a log scale: what copies actually sell for second-hand, not retail.

Dots under a magnifier

A regular grid of tiny coloured dots means a print, however old the frame looks.

Strokes that match the picture

Raised brushstrokes that follow the image mean a hand-painted copy. A few strokes over a flat print are added texture.

Labels on the back

Publisher, framer or gallery labels often say exactly what it is and when it was made.

Step by step: how to tell if a painting is valuable. Or scan it with Art Scanner: it checks original or print from the photo and gives a value range for the object you own.

About the painting

Las Meninas is a 1656 painting in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. It has become one of the most widely analyzed works in Western painting for the way its complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and for the uncertain relationship it creates between the viewer and the figures depicted.

More on the artist: the most expensive Velázquez ever sold, and where the famous ones hang.

Velázquez next to other famous artists

Each artist's highest documented sale, from the same research. Velázquez: $17 million for Saint Rufina, in 2007.

Vermeer$30.1MA Young Woman Seated at the Virginals · 2004
Michelangelo$27.2MStudy for the right foot of the Libyan Sibyl · 2026
Sargent$23.5MGroup with Parasols · 2004
Toulouse-Lautrec$22.4MLa Blanchisseuse · 2005
Velázquez$17MSaint Rufina · 2007
Goya$16.4MPortraits of Doña María Vicenta Barruso Valdés and Doña Leonora Antonia Valdés de Barruso · 2023
El Greco$14MSaint Dominic in Prayer · 2013
Delacroix$9.88MTigre jouant avec une tortue · 2018
Corot$9.01MVenise, vue du Quai des Esclavons · 2018

Nominal US dollars as reported at the time of sale, buyer's premium included where the source includes it.

Why it has no price

Las Meninas is held by the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Works in public collections are not sold, so no one can put a market price on them. Sale records of other works by the same artist are the closest guide to what it would fetch.

Scan it, see the price tag

Point Art Scanner at a famous painting and it names the work and shows its sale record or the artist's, with the museum that holds it. Painted something yourself? Try the free pricing calculator.

Art Scanner result for the Mona Lisa with its $100M insured value tag — The Mona Lisa in Art Scanner: insured value $100M, Musée du Louvre, 1962

Questions

How much is Las Meninas worth?

Las Meninas is not for sale: it is held by the Museo del Prado, Madrid, so it has no market price. The closest guide is Velázquez's highest documented sale: $17 million for Saint Rufina, at Sotheby's London in 2007. Prints and posters of it usually sell for $5–$250, and hand-painted copies for $100–$800.

How much is a print of Las Meninas worth?

Most prints and posters of Las Meninas sell for $5–$250, with framed ones at the top of that range, and hand-painted copies for $100–$800. They are priced as decorative pieces, not as Velázquez's work.

Is Las Meninas for sale?

No. It is held by the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Works in public collections are not sold, so they have no market price.

What is Velázquez's most expensive work?

Saint Rufina, which sold for $17 million at Sotheby's London in 2007. Prices are nominal US dollars as reported at the time.

Where is Las Meninas?

Las Meninas (1656, oil on canvas) is held by the Museo del Prado, Madrid.