>> Children in the C18

  

The infanta Margarita

Detail, Velasquez: The family of Philip IV, 1656

These two paintings, both of the ‘infanta Margarita’, appear to be of Margaret of Spain (12.7.1651 -- 12.3.1673), who became the first wife of Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor.  The painting on the right is a detail from Diego Velasquez de Silva’s masterpiece The Maids of Honour or The Family of Philip IV.  This painting was done in 1656, which would have made the infanta 5 at the time.  She was the heir apparent to the Spanish throne, and presumably this justified the incredibly elaborate (and probably impossibly uncomfortable) costumes she is wearing.
Juan Batista Martinez succeeded Velazquez as court painter in 1661, and the second painting possibly dates from this time.  In both the girl is wearing the rigid conical Elizabethan stays.

Probably only the children of the very richest families would have been dressed in this way.

La Infanta Margarita of Austria

Juan Batista Martinez del Mazo

 

Both paintings are in the Museo National del Prado in Madrid. 

 

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