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Look at the plain white collar. In 1623, the year the young Velazquez arrived at court and first painted his king, Philip IV's government pushed through laws against luxury and display, and the elaborate starched ruff that Spanish grandees had worn for decades was banned. In its place came this stiff, flat collar called the golilla, cheap and severe, and the king wore it as a badge of the reform. Velazquez actually painted Philip twice on this canvas. X-rays show an earlier 1623 portrait underneath, which he reworked a few years later, slimming the figure and reshaping the face. The suit is unrelieved black with no jewels at all, and that flat collar is the one bright thing in the picture.