The portrait Equestrian Portrait of Elisabeth of France was painted by Velázquez

Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...

 of Elisabeth of France between 1628 and 1636, originally for the Salón de Reinos

Salón de Reinos

The Salón de Reinos or salón grande is a wing of the palacio del Buen Retiro in Madrid. Built between 1630 and 1635, it housed the largest paintings in the royal collection, now all in the Museo Nacional del Prado...

 and now in the Prado since the gallery's institution in 1819.

History of the work

Velasquez had been commissioned to paint a series of five equestrian portraits of the royal family, Felipe III, his wife Queen Margaret of Austria, Felipe IV, his wife Elizabeth of France and their son Baltazar Carlos. This last was smaller than those of the other family members, as it was intended to be hung on a door and therefore viewed from a lower perspective.

This work of Velasquez had significant input from members of his workshop. The technical studies conducted in the Prado Museum under the direction of Carmen Garrido indicated that the five equestrian portraits were painted at the same time and with the same preparation. The idea that Velasquez retouched a painting by an earlier painter to add detail to the queen's clothing and the trappings of the horse has received support from a number of critics; X-rays reveal a painting under the visible one, in which the horse's girth is visible and the queen's clothing is simpler than the existing one. Later, when Velasquez was finishing details in the queen's head and the horse's legs, a more patient painter filled in the meticulous details of the embroidery, thus obscuring details of the painting previously laid down.

Description of the work

The queen is depicted in profile, wearing a jacket with embroidered stars and a gold-embroidered skirt with her arms and initials. The horse is depicted as an overo with a long mane and forelock falling over its face, doing the passage gait; it is facing left in order to provide symmetry with the portrait of Elisabeth's husband, in which work he is facing left.