Equestrian Portrait of Margarita of Austria

This was made in 1634 for a brand-new palace on the edge of Madrid, the Buen Retiro, built as a pleasure retreat for King Philip IV. Its grandest room, the Hall of Realms, was hung with a series of equestrian portraits of the royal family, overseen by Velázquez, the king's own painter. Margarita of Austria, shown here riding side-saddle on a pale horse, was Philip's grandmother, and she had died in 1611, more than 20 years before the picture was painted. Much of the canvas came from Velázquez's workshop, though he went back over it himself. Recent cleaning at the Prado has shown that he reworked the horse's harness, which had once been far more elaborate.