L'infanta Margherita Teresa in abito rosa

In February 1660 the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold formally asked for the hand of the Spanish princess Margarita Teresa, and her parents agreed that April. She was eight. For years the Madrid court had been sending painted portraits of her north to Vienna so her future husband, who was also her uncle, could watch her grow. This is one of the last of them, and it comes from the very end of Velázquez's life. The story long told is that he painted the rose-coloured dress and died before finishing the head, which a pupil completed. Recent study at the Prado has gone further and now gives the whole picture to that pupil, Juan Bautista del Mazo. The little girl grew up, married Leopold at 15, and was dead by 21.