As I show of Velazquez's Las Meninas, which was unknown to Rembrandt but painted the same year, the entire picture represents a "mirror", the mirror of the artist's mind. Rembrandt depicts "himself" becoming fully human by incorporating into his mind his other half: combining male with female, subject with object, artist with model and, even, painter with his painting. In uniting opposites the artist portrays the purity and perfection of the poetic mind.