María Teresa (1638–1683), Infanta of Spain

Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo Spanish

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 625

Mazo was Velázquez’s assistant and son-in-law, having married his daughter Francisca in 1633, and he mimicked many of the elder artist’s techniques and formats. María Teresa, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and future queen of France, is shown at around seven years old. The painting can be precisely dated by the dress of “plain black velvet embroidered with silver squares,” made in January 1646 by court tailor Mateo Aguado as a gift from the girl’s former governess, the Countess of Olivares. The putti faintly visible through the red curtain at upper right reveal that Mazo reused a canvas once painted with an entirely different composition, a common practice in even the highest-level workshops.

María Teresa (1638–1683), Infanta of Spain, Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (Spanish, Cuenca ca. 1612–1667 Madrid), Oil on canvas

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