Diego Velázquez: Portrait of Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress (1659)

(Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria)

A painting by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez (1599 – 1660). Margaret Theresa (1651-1673) was a daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and his second wife (and his niece) Mariana of Austria. From the second half of the 1650s the search of a suitable husband for Margaret Theresa started. Several names were proposed: the French king Louis XIV of France and King Charles II of England but these never materialized into something serious. In 1663 it was decided that Margaret Theresa was to marry archduke Leopold Ignaz, future holy Roman emperor Leopold I. (her maternal uncle and paternal cousin). The betrothal between Margaret and Leopold I was announced on 6 April 1663, and the marriage contract was signed on 18 December. Margaret moved from Madrid to Vienna in 1666 and the official marriage ceremony was celebrated on 12 December. To keep the emperor informed about of what his young fiancée looked like, several portraits of Margaret were made and sent to Vienna. This one is one of these paintings. It shows Margaret Theresa at the age of 8 and she is wearing a blue silk dress which is adorned with silver borders after the Spanish fashion of the era. During her six years of marriage with Leopold, Margaret gave birth to four children, of whom only one survived infancy (Maria Antonia of Austria). Painting from 1659.