Diego Velazquez: A portrait of Queen Isabel de Borbon painted from life

One of the salient practices of Diego Velazquez (Sevilla, 1599-Madrid, 1660) was to make portrait oil studies from life of individuals that he would subsequently represent in other dimensions and formats. Among works of this type are portraits of king Philip IV, the Infanta Maria Teresa and the Infante Baltasar Carlos. The portrait sketch of queen Isabel de Borbon presented here is another such painting. Immediacy and technical fluency count among the most important characteristics of these portraits; the painter has evidently concentrated his attention on capturing the "spirit" of the person and did so in a manner that appears more "natural" than subsequent versions of the image. Given the function of such images, Velazquez focuses almost exclusively on the head and merely implies details of the hairstyle, costume and the background. The technical evidence and stylistic qualities of this study supports an attribution to the Sevillian master.