Retrato ecuestre de Isabel de Francia

This portrait was made to hang in the grandest new room in Madrid. Through the 1630s, Philip IV of Spain was building the Buen Retiro palace, and its Hall of Realms was lined with equestrian portraits of the royal family as a display of dynastic power. The queen shown here is Isabel de Borbón, a French princess who had married into the Spanish crown, riding side-saddle in a gown embroidered with gold. Velázquez led the work, though scholars have long noted that assistants in his studio painted much of it, including that lavish dress. The picture was reworked over several years, partly to keep pace with the ever-changing fashions of the Spanish court.