Prince Baltasar Carlos with a Dwarf

Velazquez painted this portrait of Prince Baltasar Carlos with a dwarf in 1631 or 1632, in Madrid. He was about 32, the court painter to King Philip IV of Spain, and he had been painting the royal family for ten years. This portrait of the young prince is one of his most charming paintings. Prince Baltasar Carlos, about two years old, stands at the center of the painting. He wears a white dress with a lace collar, as was customary for young children of both sexes in the 17th century. His left hand rests on the back of a small chair, and his right hand holds a toy, a rattle on a stick. Behind him, a dwarf stands in the shadow, holding an apple and a rattle. The dwarf is an adult, dressed in green, looking out at the viewer with a serious expression. The background is a dark wall with a red curtain at the right. Dwarfs were part of the Spanish court in the 17th century. They served as companions to the royal children, as entertainers, and as status symbols, and Velazquez painted them several times. He painted them with the same dignity and attention that he gave to the royal family, and his portraits of dwarfs are among his most respected works. In this painting, the dwarf is not a comic figure but a guardian, standing behind the child with a watchful expression. Prince Baltasar Carlos was the heir to the Spanish throne, the only son of Philip IV and his first wife, Isabel de Borbon. He died in 1646 at the age of 16, and the succession passed to his half-sister, the future Queen Mariana, whose marriage to Philip IV produced Charles II, the last Habsburg king of Spain. Velazquez painted the prince at several stages of his short life, and this portrait, made when the prince was a toddler, is the earliest. Velazquez was born in Seville in 1599 and moved to Madrid in 1623, when he was appointed court painter to Philip IV. He spent the rest of his life in Madrid, painting the king, the royal family, and the court. He traveled to Italy twice, in 1629 and 1649, and the Italian paintings he saw there influenced his use of color and light. He died in Madrid in 1660, at the height of his career. Oil on canvas, 128 by 102 centimeters, roughly 50 by 40 inches. Velazquez painted with a loose, fluid brushwork that was unlike the smooth surfaces of most court portraits. The prince's white dress is built in broad strokes of white and grey, with the lace collar indicated by thin touches of white. The dwarf's face is rendered with careful attention, each feature individually characterized. The background is painted thinly, with the dark wall and the red curtain providing a setting without distracting from the figures. The vertical format and court subject make this print work well in a living room, study, or hallway with traditional furniture. The portrait subject suits a room with dark wood and warm lighting. A dark wood frame matches the painting's tonal range. The 11x14 or 12x16 size gives the prince and the dwarf enough detail to appreciate up close. The painting is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This is a public domain artwork. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.