Portrait of Baltasar Carlos of Spain (1629-1646)

In the upper right corner, brushed in ochre, is a line of Latin: Prince Don Baltasar, in his sixteenth year. He turned 16 in October 1645 and died in October 1646, eight days short of 17, so that line pins the canvas inside those twelve months and makes it the last portrait taken of him. The monarchy around it was in trouble. Catalonia and Portugal had risen in 1640, the king's chief minister Olivares had fallen in 1643 after two decades in power, and Queen Isabel de Borbón had died in 1644. The intelligent heir was the one thing going right. For two centuries the picture was catalogued as a Velázquez, and Carl Justi called it one of the master's few dull works. At the end of the 19th century Armstrong and Beruete proposed instead Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, who had been the prince's drawing teacher, and that is the name the Prado carries today.