In The Order of Things, author and philosopher Michel Foucault analyzes Las Meninas by Valazquez by way of a different triangle metaphor. In her blog, "The Kulture Files," Neha Nair Rohera notes that with regard to Las Meninas, Foucault "construes a paradoxical relationship between reality and representation. He constructs a triangle between the painter, the mirror image, and the shadowy man in the background. He considers the three elements linked because they are all representations of a point of reality outside of the painting."(http://thekulturefiles.com)
I am definitely intrigued by this concept of referencing outside sources, and yet I am aware that the finished product must stand on its own