Infanta Maria Theresa Portrait
Haileigh Stathopoulos
The portrait, of Infanta Princess Maria Theresa was created in Spain, to be brought to France. Princess Maria Theresa's father requested the painting to be made, to bring it to France and show it off to find his daughter a husband.
This painting was made with oils on a canvas, by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez. The freshness of the colors and brushwork stress the fifteen year old infanta's desirability, and suggest that Velázquez was very close in the making.
This painting was made for a very specific reason. Spain and France were very big and popular countries in the 1600's, so the king of Spain, had a painting of his daughter made at age 15, and sent it to France so they would find a husband in France for her and the two countries could be close and have more power. Princess Maria Theresa ended up marrying Luis XIV of France.
The reason this painting made me want to know more about it just from looking at it, was from how young she looked, yet professional. She has a very big dress on and her hair is done up. When I read the description of this portrait, I was even more interested in this story. The painting is painted very well and the reason it was made was even more interesting.
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