Detail of Maria Teresa, Infanta of Spain by Mazo in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2023

Title: María Teresa (1638–1683), Infanta of Spain

Artist: Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (Spanish, Cuenca ca. 1612–1667 Madrid)

Date: ca. 1645

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 58 1/4 x 40 1/2 in. (148 x 102.9 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1943

Accession Number: 43.101


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. Here, he portrays María Teresa, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and future queen of France, at around seven years old. Though she wears a rigid court dress, her lapdog lends the painting an informality typical of Velázquez’s innovative portraits of royal children. 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.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437046