Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School

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

Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School

Velázquez's work is considered a departure from the traditional portraiture of the Spanish Royal family.[2] There are two versions of the painting. The original was commissioned by Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, first minister to the King. The second is sometimes attributed to the studio of Velázquez, sometimes to Velázquez himself.[2][1]:272

History

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.[3]:5:37 The symbolism of the prince performing this difficult manoeuvre resides in competence as a horseman as a metaphor for facility in handling the reins of state.[4]

In middle ground of the original version, Olivares, riding-master to the prince, receives a lance – which he will then hand to his charge – from Alonso Martínez de Espinar; they are watched by Juan Mateos.[5] Behind them, on a balcony of the palace, stand King Philip IV and Queen Isabel.[5][1]:272

The original version of the work is on loan to the National Gallery in London from a private collection;[6]:20 the later version is in the Wallace Collection, having been purchased by the Marquess of Hertford in 1856 at a sale of the effects of poet Samuel Rogers.[6]:20[2]

The first documented mention of this 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

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References
  1. Harris, Enriqueta (1976). "Velázquez's Portrait of Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School". The Burlington Magazine. 118 (878): 266–275. JSTOR 878338. (subscription required)
  2. Muñoz-Rojas, Natalia (January 2020). Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School by the Studio of Velázquez. The Wallace Collection. London. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  3. Bray, Xavier (2018). Prince Baltasar Carlos by Diego Velázquez. The Wallace Collection. London. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  4. Velázquez, Diego. "Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School". The Wallace Collection. Retrieved 31 July 2020 – via Art UK/The Public Catalogue Foundation.
  5. Fradejas Rueda, José Manuel (2018). Alonso Martínez de Espinar. Diccionario Biográfico (in Spanish). Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  6. Morden, Karen; McKie, Rebecca, eds. (2008). The National Gallery Review of the Year April 2007 ‒ March 2008 (PDF). The National Gallery. London. ISBN 9781857094572..


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