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Lot Essay
The present three-quarter-length portrait is a close variant of a full-length portrait by Velázquez of Queen Mariana of Austria dated 1652-3 (Museo del Prado, Madrid) and reproduces the Prado sitter's physiognomy, her farthingdale costume with silver trim, the position of her right hand resting on a chair back and the finely articulated clock on a ledge in the right background. The painting deviates from the Velázquez prototype in its abbreviated rendition of the red curtain and in its omission of the original's lowest register.
Mariana was born on 21 December 1634 to Emperor Ferdinand III and the Infanta María, sister of King Philip IV of Spain. She married her widowed uncle Philip on 7 November 1649, served as Spain's queen until 1675 and died on 16 May 1696. The autograph Prado version, along with two fine workshop replicas (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; and Paris, Musée du Louvre), were commissioned to commemorate the royal union. The present portrait, formerly attributed to the master in full, has been convincingly reattributed by Lopéz-Rey (op. cit.) as a 'fine workshop replica' of the Prado autograph version, possibly painted by Velázquez's son-in-law, Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (for further reading on Mazo, see E. du Gué Trapier, 'A Recently Cleaned Portrait of a Little Girl by a Follower of Velázquez', The Art Quarterly, Summer 1961, pp. 146-50).
Mariana was born on 21 December 1634 to Emperor Ferdinand III and the Infanta María, sister of King Philip IV of Spain. She married her widowed uncle Philip on 7 November 1649, served as Spain's queen until 1675 and died on 16 May 1696. The autograph Prado version, along with two fine workshop replicas (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; and Paris, Musée du Louvre), were commissioned to commemorate the royal union. The present portrait, formerly attributed to the master in full, has been convincingly reattributed by Lopéz-Rey (op. cit.) as a 'fine workshop replica' of the Prado autograph version, possibly painted by Velázquez's son-in-law, Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (for further reading on Mazo, see E. du Gué Trapier, 'A Recently Cleaned Portrait of a Little Girl by a Follower of Velázquez', The Art Quarterly, Summer 1961, pp. 146-50).