Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School
Spanish: Lección de equitación del príncipe Baltasar Carlos
ArtistDiego Velázquez
Yearcirca 1636
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions144.2 cm × 97 cm (56.8 in × 38 in)
LocationNational Gallery, London
OwnerGrosvenor Estate
Another version of the painting, in the Wallace Collection, in London

Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School, Spanish: La lección de equitación del príncipe Baltasar Carlos, is a painting by Diego Velázquez, painted at the Palacio del Buen Retiro outside Madrid, probably in 1636.[1]: 272  There are two versions of the painting, one on loan to the National Gallery in London, the other in the Wallace Collection in the same city;[2]: 20 [3] the latter is sometimes attributed to the studio of Velázquez, sometimes to Velázquez himself.[3][1]: 272 

History

The original version of the work was loaned to the National Gallery in London in 2007–2008.[2]: 20 

The first documented mention of the later version is in a letter written in 1828 from Madrid by the Scottish artist David Wilkie, who described it as a "duplicate" of the painting in the possession of Robert Grosvenor, 2nd Earl Grosvenor.[1]: 266  In 1856 it was bought by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, at a sale of the effects of the poet Samuel Rogers, and so passed into the Wallace Collection.[3]

The paintings

Both versions of the painting show the Infante Baltasar Carlos, at the age of about seven, on horseback in front of the Palacio del Buen Retiro outside Madrid; behind him is a dwarf. The horse is performing a levade, one of the "airs above the ground" of the haute école of classical dressage.[4]: 5:37 [5]

In middle ground of the original version, Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, first minister to the King and riding-master to the prince, receives a lance – which he will then hand to his charge – from Alonso Martínez de Espinar, identified from an engraving, by Juan de Noort [es], on the frontispiece of his treatise on archery;[1]: 271  they are watched by Juan Mateos, identified from an engraving by Pedro Perete on the title page of his treatise on hunting.[1]: 271 [6][7] Behind them, on a balcony of the palace, stand King Philip IV and Queen Isabel.[6][1]: 272 

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La lección de equitación del príncipe Baltasar Carlos (Velázquez).
  1. ^ a b c d e f Enriqueta Harris (1976). Velázquez's Portrait of Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School. The Burlington Magazine 118 (878): 266–275. (subscription required).
  2. ^ a b Karen Morden, Rebecca McKie (editors) (2008). The National Gallery Review of the Year April 2007 ‒ March 2008. London: The National Gallery. ISBN 9781857094572.
  3. ^ a b c Natalia Muñoz-Rojas (January 2020). Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School by the Studio of Velázquez. London: The Wallace Collection. Accessed July 2020.
  4. ^ Xavier Bray (2018). Prince Baltasar Carlos by Diego Velázquez at the Wallace Collection. London: The Wallace Collection. Accessed July 2020.
  5. ^ Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School: Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) (studio of): The Wallace Collection. ArtUK/The Public Catalogue Foundation. Accessed July 2020.
  6. ^ a b José Manuel Fradejas Rueda ([2018]). Alonso Martínez de Espinar (in Spanish). Diccionario Biográfico. Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia. Accessed July 2020.
  7. ^ Justi, Carl (1889). Diego Velazquez und sein jahrhundert [Diego Velazquez and his times]. Translated by Keane, Augustus Henry. London: H. Grevel & Co. pp. 224 ff.
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