#balthasar charles of spain

[dutch-and-flemish-painters]

Jan de Herdt - Portrait of Emperor Leopold I - 1660s

oil on canvas

Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; Hungarian: I. Lipót; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain, Leopold became heir apparent in 1654 by the death of his elder brother Ferdinand IV. Elected in 1658, Leopold ruled the Holy Roman Empire until his death in 1705, becoming the second longest-ruling Habsburg emperor (46 years and 9 months). He was both a composer and considerable patron of music.

Leopold's reign is known for conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) and rivalry with Louis XIV, a contemporary and first cousin (on the maternal side; fourth cousin on the paternal side), in the west. After more than a decade of warfare, Leopold emerged victorious in the east thanks to the military talents of Prince Eugene of Savoy. By the Treaty of Karlowitz, Leopold recovered almost all of the Kingdom of Hungary, which had fallen under Turkish power in the years after the 1526 Battle of Mohács.

Leopold fought three wars against France: the Franco-Dutch War, the Nine Years' War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. In this last, Leopold sought to give his younger son Charles the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the will of the late Charles II. Leopold started a war that soon engulfed much of Europe. The early years of the war went fairly well for Austria, with victories at Schellenberg and Blenheim, but the war would drag on until 1714, nine years after Leopold's death, which barely had an effect on the warring nations. When peace returned with the Treaty of Rastatt, Austria could not be said to have emerged as triumphant as it had from the war against the Turks.

Jan de Herdt, in Italy also called Il fiammingo (Antwerp, c. 1620 – between 1686 and 1690) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. After training in Antwerp, he spent his entire career abroad, first in Northern Italy and later in Vienna and other cities in central Europe. He was mainly a portrait artist but also painted genre scenes as well as religious, mythological and allegorical subjects. He was part of a network of Flemish and Dutch painters working for the court, aristocracy and ecclesiastical institutions of central Europe.

[master-of-the-opera-house]

I can't believe i forgot i made this gem

[venicepearl]

Philip Prospero, Prince of Asturias (28 November 1657 – 1 November 1661) was the first son of Philip IV of Spain and Mariana of Austria to survive infancy. Philip IV had no male heir since the death of Balthasar Charles, his son by his first wife, Elisabeth of France, eleven years before, and as Spain's strength continued to ebb the issue of succession had become a matter of fervent and anxious prayer.

[goodqueenaly]

Hello, I am a S.T.E.M student so I am not that knowledgeable of history, but when creating marriage pacts can the bride's family write in the contract that the bride's descendants have no claim to the bride's family holdings? That seems to be what happened with Daeron II's marriage. Would that happen in other situations too? Thanks.

Oh yes. One interesting example of this was the marriage of Maria Theresa, Infanta of Spain, and King Louis XIV of France.

Maria Theresa was the daughter of King Philip IV. Unfortunately for Spanish dynastic hopes, of the eight children born to King Philip and his first wife, Elisabeth of France, two survived infancy: Balthasar Charles and Maria Theresa. Worse for the Spanish Hapsburgs, Balthasar Charles died when he was 16, leaving Maria Theresa the sole male-line heiress. This vast Spanish inheritance made the Infanta a very valuable marriage prize (even after a half-brother, Philip Prospero, was born to Philip IV and his second wife - and 30-years-younger niece - Marianna of Austria).

The French crown was eager to secure Maria Theresa as a bride for Louis XIV (who was her double first cousin: his father, Louis XIII, was the brother of her mother, Elisabeth, while her father, Philip IV, was the brother of Louis’ mother, Anne of Austria). Not only was her dynastic position very enviable, but her marriage would help bring to an end the Franco-Spanish war which had been draining the resources of both countries for over two decades; in the words of Cardinal Mazarin, who negotiated the peace for France, to the Dowager Queen Anne, “I bring Your Majesty peace and the Infanta”. Still, with the huge territorial inheritances at stake (and the uncertainty of the Spanish male succession - little Philip Prospero was not quite two, and Philip IV had not had outstanding luck with the survival of his heirs), it was perhaps unsurprising that the Spanish diplomats would want to avoid the possibility of Spain becoming a mere territory of France.

Accordingly, under the terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, Philip IV was to pay a dowry of 500,000 gold crowns, and that as a condition of this payment, Maria Theresa was to renounce all claims to the private fortune she might have otherwise inherited as a Spanish princess. Articles 5 and 6 of of the treaty (distinct from Article 4, which discussed the inheritance of private fortune) also obliged Maria Theresa to renounce all claims to the dominions ruled by Spain, for both herself and any descendants; the only way in which she might retain her public, royal inheritance was to return to Spain as a childless widow. The infanta duly renounced her rights, public and private (though only in Spain, not also in France), the marriage was duly celebrated - but the dowry was never paid. 

Louis XIV was ambitious, and not one to ignore opportunity - even opportunity based on a rather thin premise - for increasing the power and glory of France on the continental European stage. At the death of Philip IV in 1665, Louis XIV claimed the Spanish Netherlands in the name of his bride. His legal justification was at best tenuous. Louis invoked the medieval Law of Brabant, which indicated the children of a first marriage (that is, Maria Theresa) should precede the children of a second marriage (Philip Prospero had died in 1661, but Philip IV had fathered two other children, Margarita Theresa and his successor, Charles II). He also argued that since the dowry had never been paid, Maria Theresa’s renunciation was invalid; accordingly, Philip IV’s rights to the Spanish Netherlands had devolved upon his eldest surviving child at his death. Unfortunately for France, he subsequent War of Devolution did not end as Louis XIV had hoped - France kept some territory it had gained in Flanders, but little else.

Still, the War of Devolution would not be the last time France would seek Spanish inheritance through Maria Theresa. Philip IV’s only surviving legitimate son, Charles, was severely inbred, and had not managed to father any children by either of his two wives. Immediately before his death, Charles had acknowledged Philip, duc d’Anjou - the second son of Louis XIV’s son by Maria Theresa, Louis le Grand Dauphin - as heir to the Spanish empire. His chief rival was Archduke Charles of Austria, the second son of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I; his Spanish claim was more distant that Philip’s - his paternal grandmother was Maria Anna of Austria, the daughter of King Philip III and sister of King Philip IV - but the Austrian faction argued that Maria Theresa’s renunciation nullified Philip’s claim to the Spanish throne. After over a decade of fighting, the Spanish throne was settled on Philip, with other Spanish territories in Europe going to Austria; Philip’s descendants rule Spain today, though in an amusing twist Philip himself was forced to renounce any claim to the French throne (which then became its own issue when the senior legitimate male line from Louis XIV died out in the nineteenth century).

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Today in Christian History

Today is Thursday, July 5, the 186th day of 2018. There are 179 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

1003: (tentative date) Death of Athanasius the Athonite when the cupola of his church collapses. He had been notable for bringing monastic order to the hermits of Mt. Athos, Greece.

1525: Balthasar Hübmaier publishes On the Christian Baptism of Believers in which he takes issue with Zwingli’s handling of baptism and Anabaptists.

1581: At the request of the States of Holland and Zealand, William of Orange assumes “entire authority, as sovereign and chief of the land” as long as war with Spain shall continue. The conflict pitted Protestants vs. Catholics.

1589: Thomas Belson is hanged at Oxford, England, for assisting Catholic priests who were operating despite laws against the practice of their religion.

1767: Death of ministerial student Michael Bruce at twenty-one years of age. He had written the hymn “How Happy is the Child Who Hears” and other poems showing some talent but did not receive credit for them for a hundred years, his literary executor having passed them off as his own productions.

1844: During the Kensington riots, Protestants wheel a brace of cannon to St. Phillip Neri’s church in Philadelphia. The local militia defend the church, several people die, and Irish Catholics are indicted for murder and rioting.

1903: Death of English theologian William Burt Pope. His Compendium of Christian Theology had set forth in three volumes the strongest arguments of his day for the holiness doctrine of Methodism.

1928: Charles Pean, a Salvation Army worker, sails as a misisionary to notorious Devil’s Island.

1962: Death of Helmut Richard Niebuhr, theologian, Yale professor, and author of Christ and Culture.

2007: Unidentified opponents behead Rev. Pau Za Khen, a sixty-two-year-old Lutheran pastor in northeastern India’s Manipur. Khen had been abducted from his daughter’s home by four men the previous day. He was found with his hands tied behind his back and his eyes blindfolded.

[arthisour-blog]

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Mar 5, 1696 – Mar 27, 1770), also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice. He was prolific, and worked not only in Italy, but also in Germany and Spain.

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Giovan Battista Tiepolo, together with Giambattista Pittoni, Canaletto, Giovan Battista Piazzetta, Giuseppe Maria Crespi and Francesco Guardi forms the traditional great Old Masters of that period. Successful from the beginning of his career, he has been described by Michael Levey as “the greatest decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe, as well as its most able craftsman.”

Some major commissions came from the patrician Dolfin family. Dioniso Dolfin, the Archbishop of Udine in Friuli employed him to decorate a chapel in the cathedral at Udine, and then to paint another cycle depicting episodes from the lives of Abraham and his descendants from the book of Genesis at his archiepiscopal palace (the “Arcivescovado”) (completed 1726–1728). Despite their elevated subject matter, they are bright in colour, and light-hearted in mood: Michael Levey describes the paintings at the palace as “a shimmering set of tableaux, full of wit and elegance. Tiepolo used a much cooler palette than previous Venetian painters, in order to create a convincing effect of daylight. His first masterpieces in Venice were a cycle of ten enormous canvases painted to decorate a large reception room of Ca’ Dolfin on the Grand Canal of Venice (ca. 1726–1729), depicting battles and triumphs from the history of ancient Rome.

These early masterpieces, innovative amongst Venetian frescoes for their luminosity, brought him many commissions. He painted canvases for churches such as that of Verolanuova (1735–1740), for the Scuola dei Carmini (1740–1747), and the Chiesa degli Scalzi (1743–1744; now destroyed) in Cannaregio, a ceiling for the Palazzi Archinto and Casati-Dugnani in Milan (1731), the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo (1732–1733), a ceiling for the Gesuati (Santa Maria del Rosario) in Venice of St. Dominic Instituting the Rosary (1737–1739), Palazzo Clerici, Milan (1740), decorations for Villa Cordellini at Montecchio Maggiore (1743–1744) and for the ballroom of the Palazzo Labia in Venice (now a television studio), showing the Story of Cleopatra (1745–1750).

Tiepolo produced two sets of etchings, the Capricci (c.1740–2) and the Scherzi di fantasia (c.1743–57) . The ten capricci were first published by Anton Maria Zanetti, incorporated into the third edition of a compilation of woodcuts after Parmigiano. They were not published separately until 1785. The subject matter is often bizarre and fantastical, and the works owe a lot to the example of Salvator Rosa and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. The 23 Scherzi were etched over more than ten years and privately circulated, only being commercially published after Tiepolo’s death, with numbers and titles added by his son, Giandomenico. Subjects include mysterious Eastern figures, and, in some of the later prints, scenes of necromancy.

By 1750, Tiepolo’s reputation was firmly established throughout Europe, with the help of his friend Francesco Algarotti, an art dealer, critic and collector. That year, at the behest of Prince Bishop Karl Philip von Greiffenklau, he traveled to Würzburg where he arrived in November 1750. He remained there for three years during which he executed ceiling paintings in the New Residenz palace (completed 1744). He frescoed the Kaisersaal salon in collaboration with his sons Giandomenico and Lorenzo and was then invited to deliver a design for the grandiose entrance staircase (Treppenhaus) designed by Balthasar Neumann. It is a massive ceiling fresco at 7287 square feet (677 m2), and was completed in November 1753. His Allegory of the Planets and Continents depicts Apollo embarking on his daily course; deities around him symbolize the planets; allegorical figures (on the cornice) represent the four continents. He included several portraits in the Europe section of this fresco, including a self-portrait; one of his son Giandomenico; one of the prince-bishop von Greiffenklau; one of the painter Antonio Bossi; and one of the architect, Balthasar Neumann.

The Immaculate Conception, painted between 1767 and 1768 Tiepolo returned to Venice in 1753. He was now in demand locally, as well as abroad where he was elected President of the Academy of Padua. He went on to complete theatrical frescoes for churches; the Triumph of Faith for the Chiesa della Pietà; panel frescos for Ca’ Rezzonico (which now also houses his ceiling fresco from the Palazzo Barbarigo); and paintings for patrician villas in the Venetian countryside, such as Villa Valmarana in Vicenza and an elaborate panegyric ceiling for the Villa Pisani in Stra.

In some celebrated frescoes at the Palazzo Labia, he depicted two scenes from the life of Cleopatra: Meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra[1] and Banquet of Cleopatra, as well as, in a central ceiling fresco, the Triumph of Bellerophon over Time. Here he collaborated with Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna. This connection with Colonna, who also designed sets for opera, highlights the increasing tendency towards composition as a staged fiction in Tiepolo’s frescoes. The architecture of the Banquet fresco also recalls that of Veronese’s Wedding at Cana. In 1757, he painted an altar piece for the Thiene family, representing the apotheosis of Saint Cajetan. It is in the church of hamlet of Rampazzo in the Camisano Vicentino.

In 1761, Charles III commissioned Tiepolo to create a ceiling fresco to decorate the throne room of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The panegyric theme is the Apotheosis of Spain and has allegorical depictions recalling the dominance of Spain in the Americas and across the globe.

He also painted two other ceilings in the palace, and carried out many private commissions in Spain. However he suffered from the jealousy and the bitter opposition of the rising champion of Neoclassicism, Anton Raphael Mengs; at the instigation of Mengs’ supporter, the King’s confessor Joaquim de Electa, had Tiepolo’s series of canvases for the church of S. Pascual at Aranjuez replaced by works by his favourite.

After his death, the rise of a stern Neoclassicism and the post-revolutionary decline of absolutism led to the slow decline of the style associated with his name, but failed to dent his reputation. In 1772, Tiepolo’s son was sufficiently respected to be painter to Doge Giovanni Cornaro, in charge of the decoration of Palazzo Mocenigo in the sestiere of San Polo, Venice.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was originally published on HiSoUR Art Collection

[listerious]

Top 15 Famous Diego Velázquez Paintings

The leading Baroque painter of the Spanish Golden Age was a man named Diego Velázquez (1599-1660). Famous for his portraits of the Spanish royal family as the court painter of King Philip IV, his style continuously evolved as his work matured. This resulted in a wide variety of paintings that have incredible cultural and historical importance. Some of his works became the inspiration for the most famous Realist painters and Impressionist artists of the 1800s, about 2 centuries later. Many of Velázquez's paintings were lost when the Royal Alcazar of Madrid burned down on Christmas Eve of the year 1734, but luckily, his magnum opus was saved from the flames with little damage to it. It's assumed that he created between 110 and 120 artworks, and in this post, we'll take a closer look at some of the most famous Diego Velázquez Paintings, masterpieces of a very special and intriguing Spanish painter.

1. Las Meninas

- Date Created: 1656 - Dimensions: 318 × 276 centimeters (125.2 × 108.7 inches) - Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain Las Meninas is considered to be the ultimate masterpiece of the Spanish artist. The title of the work literally translates to "The Ladies-in-waiting" and depicts a number of members of the Spanish court in what is believed to be the main chamber of the Royal Alcazar of Madrid. The work is fascinating because it really intertwines illusion and reality and has therefore been described as one of the most important paintings in Western art history. Apart from the Infanta Margaret Theresa, we also see the painter himself, maids of honor, a chaperone, a bodyguard, two dwarfs, and a dog. The king and queen are seen in a mirror in the background as well.

Las Meninas / Wiki Commons

2. Old Woman Frying Eggs

- Date Created: 1618 - Dimensions: 100.5 × 119.5 centimeters (39.6 × 47.0 inches - Location: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland Old Woman Frying Eggs or "Vieja friendo huevos" in Spanish is one of the earliest works of the painter, dating back to his Seville period, which was his hometown. The exact date is unknown but is believed to be around 1618 before he permanently moved to Madrid in 1623. This remarkable work emphasizes the mastery of chiaroscuro by Velázquez, the strong contrast between dark and light. This also allowed the painter to depict the items as if they are really there, a remarkable example of realism in the early 17th century.

Old Woman Frying Eggs / Wiki Commons

3. The Waterseller of Seville

- Date Created: 1618-1622 - Dimensions: 105 × 80 centimeters (41 × 31 inches) - Location: Apsley House, London, United Kingdom The Waterseller of Seville is another work of which the exact date is unclear and which dates back to the painter's period in Seville. It depicts a water seller, a common profession in this city for the lower classes. It's one of 3 paintings of the same subject painted by Velázquez in Seville in his late teens and early twenties. We see the old man selling a glass of water to a young boy while a bystander looks at the transaction in the background. Because of the items displayed, it's assumed that the scene takes place within one of the city's many taverns.

The waterseller of Seville / Wiki Commons

4. Portrait of Francisco Pacheco

- Date Created: 1622 - Dimensions: 41 x 36 centimeters (16.14 x 14.17 inches) - Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain The Portrait of Francisco Pacheco is one of the numerous portraits painted by Velázquez, but unlike the paintings of members of the royal family, this painting depicts somebody much closer to him. Francisco Pacheco was the father-in-law of the painter after his daughter Juana married Diego on April 23, 1618. Remarkably, Pacheco was a successful painter himself as well who was mainly influenced by the works of El Greco after his visit to Toledo.

Portrait of Francisco Pacheco / Wiki Commons

5. Philip IV in Brown and Silver

- Date Created: 1635 - Dimensions: 199 × 113 centimeters (78 × 44 inches) - Location: National Gallery, London, United Kingdom Philip IV in Brown and Silver is one of the presumably 34 Diego Velázquez paintings depicting King Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665). Even the earliest of these portraits has been lost, this one was considered to be the model for all other portraits of the king in the 1630s. This particular painting was presumably created in the year 1635 even though a clear date is unknown. It was, however, painted after his first trip to Italy, something that reflects in the softer use of colors. This probably shows the influence of the painters of the Venetian School.

Philip IV in Brown and Silver / Wiki COmmons

6. The Triumph of Bacchus

- Date Created: 1628-1629 - Dimensions: 165 × 225 centimeters (65 × 89 inches) - Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain The Triumph of Bacchus is often referred to as "Los Borrachos" or "The Drunks." This particular work was painted just before he departed to Italy for the first time in the late 1620s and is considered to be his masterpiece of this decade. It depicts the god of grape-harvest Bacchus as he is surrounded by drunkards who enjoy his grape juice. The subject to his left appears to be joining him from the mythical world, while the other men are dressed in 17th-century poor man's clothes.

The Trumph of Bacchus / Wiki Commons

7. The Surrender of Breda

- Date Created: 1634-1635 - Dimensions: 307 × 367 centimeters (121 × 144 inches) - Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain The Surrender of Breda or "La Rendición de Breda" depicts an important moment during the Eighty Years War (1568-1548), the military victory of the Spanish during the 1624 Siege of Breda. We can see the moment that the key of Breda is changed from Dutch possession to the Spanish. On the right, we can see the Spanish Genoese general Ambrogio Spinola (1569-1630) who receives the key of Breda from Dutch leader Justinus van Nassau (1559-1631).

The Surrender of Breda / Wiki Commons

8. Rokeby Venus

- Date Created: 1647-1651 - Dimensions: 122 × 177 centimeters (48 × 49.7 inches) - Location: National Gallery, London, United Kingdom The Rokeby Venus, also known as "The Toilet of Venus" or "Venus at her Mirror," is one of the most intriguing Diego Velázquez paintings. The main reason is that it's the only surviving painting in his oeuvre which depicts a naked female. The reason for this was fairly simple as the members of the Spanish Inquisition weren't too fond of this particular type of painting. Because he was the court painter he could get away with it. It's assumed that he got the inspiration for this painting from either Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (1510) and Titian's painting the Venus of Urbino (1538).

Rokeby Venus / Wiki Commons

9. Equestrian Portrait of Prince Balthasar Charles

- Date Created: 1635 - Dimensions: 209 × 173 centimeters (82 × 68 inches) - Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain The Equestrian Portrait of Prince Balthasar Charles is one of the many portraits of members of the royal family of Spain. This particular one portrays Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias (1629-1646) as he's riding a horse. The prince was the only son of King Philip IV and his first wife Elisabeth of France and was the main figure in multiple of Velázquez's most famous paintings.

Equestrian Portrait of Prince Balthasar Charles / Wiki Commons

10. Portrait of Juan de Pareja

- Date Created: 1650 - Dimensions: 81.3 × 69.9 centimeters (32.0 × 27.5 inches) - Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, United States The Portrait of Juan de Pareja is another remarkable painting with a remarkable story, mainly because of the depicted subject. Pareja was the assistant of Velázquez who was born into slavery in the south of Spain. He joined Velázquez on his second trip to Italy and this particular portrait was painted in Rome during this trip in the year 1650. This was also the year that Diego decided to free his assistant, who ended up becoming a notable painter and a remarkable oeuvre of paintings himself.

Portrait of Juan de Pareja / Wiki Commons

11. Portrait of Pope Innocent X

- Date Created: 1650 - Dimensions: 141 × 119 centimeters (56 × 47 inches) - Location: Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome, Italy The Portrait of Pope Innocent X is another portrait painted by Velázquez in the same year that he depicted his assistant Pareja. It's considered to be one of the finest portraits ever created, mainly because of the exceptional realism it depicts. The Pope really wasn't too sure whether or not he wanted his portrait painted, which is something masterly reflected in the way he looks. The Pope was born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (1574-1655) and this particular portrait is still housed in the art gallery owned by the Pamphilj family today.

Portrait of Pope Innocent X / Wiki Commons

12. Coronation of the Virgin

- Date Created: 1641-1644 - Dimensions: 176 × 124 centimeters (69 × 49 inches) - Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain The Coronation of the Virgin depicts a popular religious theme, namely the crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Holy Trinity. It's a remarkable painting in the sense that Velázquez didn't paint that many paintings with a religious subject. It's assumed that it was commissioned for the oratory of the court of Queen Elisabeth of France. Another remarkable fact is that it's most probably that the model of the Virgin Mary in this painting was the same model as the women portraying Venus in the Rokeby Venus painting.

Coronation of the Virgin / Wiki Commons

13. Las Hilanderas

- Date Created: 1655 - Dimensions: 220 × 289 centimeters (87 × 114 inches) - Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain Las Hilanderas literally translates to "The Spinners" and is also sometimes referred to as "The Fable of Arachne." The true subject of the painting was long unknown as it was assumed that it depicted women working at the tapestry workshop of Santa Isabel. The correct interpretation of the painting wasn't discovered until the year 1948 when an art historian pointed out that it depicts "Ovid's Fable of Arachne." This fable revolves around the mortal Arachne inviting the goddess to a weaving competition, and after losing, turns the woman into a spider. This story is derived from Greek Mythology and is now accepted as the true meaning of the painting.

Las Hilanderas / Wiki Commons

14. Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan

- Date Created: 1630 - Dimensions: 223 × 290 centimeters (​87 × ​114 inches) - Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan is also sometimes referred to as "Vulcan's Forge" is a painting completed in the early 1630s, shortly after the painter came back from his first trip to Italy. This painting is considered to be the ultimate masterpiece during his first trip in Italy and has been praised because of the natural interaction between the subjects. It's assumed that it was painted at the request of Peter Paul Rubens, even though it became part of the royal collection shortly after it was completed.

Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan / Wiki Commons

15. Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress

- Date Created: 1659 - Dimensions: 127 × 107 centimeters (50 × 42 inches) - Location: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress is arguably one of the best-known portraits ever created by Velázquez. It depicts the same girl as in his ultimate masterpiece Las Meninas, Margaret Theresa of Spain (1651-1673), and was one of the final paintings created by the artist. This painting clearly displays how the artist's style evolved over the decades as it was created with loose brushstrokes which come together nicely when viewed from a distance. This makes it another masterpiece of one of the most famous artists of the Baroque period!

Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress / Wiki Commons Read the full article