Infanta Margaret Theresa in a White and Silver Dress

Velázquez painted this in 1656, the same year as Las Meninas, where the little Infanta Margarita appears in much the same shimmering white and silver dress. She was five here, and the portrait had a job to do. Margarita was promised in marriage to Leopold, a Habsburg cousin in Vienna and the future Holy Roman Emperor, and every year or two a fresh likeness was sent across Europe so her distant fiancé could watch his bride grow up. The imperial envoy who carried this one back also sent a note praising how well the child had behaved. Velázquez holds her in a stiff, grown-up pose, one small hand resting on a side table, the silver of the dress catching what little light there is.