Prince Balthasar Charles as a Hunter

Philip IV of Spain was building a hunting lodge in the hills near Madrid, the Torre de la Parada, and he wanted Velázquez to fill it with pictures of the royal family at the hunt. This is the little crown prince, Baltasar Carlos, about six years old, dressed for the field with a hat, a brown cloak, and a small gun in his hand, a large hound resting at his feet. Hunting was training for kingship. It taught a prince to keep his nerve in danger and read the moment to strike, so this is really a portrait of a future king in the making. Baltasar Carlos never became one. He died at sixteen, and the Spanish succession he was meant to secure fell into crisis. Velázquez sets him against open mountain air, the light and the distance handled so freely it looks painted out of doors.