d later as a young boy in court
dress,[3] military costume, or hunting-garb.

In his most attractive portraits he is a gallant young horseman, seated
with an easy grace, as if born to the saddle. Two of these are scenes
in the riding-school, and are admirable compositions. The most
remarkable, however, is that in the Madrid Museum, in which the little
prince rides alone on a bright bay. The beautiful pony bounds out of the
picture with great spirit and grace, guided by his happy, round-faced
rider, whose right hand lifts a baton, and whose left holds the bridle.
The brilliant colors of his riding-costume make the picture exceedingly
effective in rich, warm tints,--the green velvet jacket and the
red-and-gold scarf,--while the young cavalier's fluttering streamers and
the horse's sweeping mane and tail give a swift breezy motion to the
whole scene.

Next in age to Prince Balthasar came the Princess Maria Theresa, who
afterwards became the queen of Louis XIV. of France. Velasquez painted
various portraits of this little princess to be sent to the European
courts where negotiations for her marriage were under consideration;
but, unhappily, the fate of most of these is shrouded in mystery. One
interesting painting, however, may be seen in the Royal Gallery at
Madrid.[4] The child has a sweet, demure face, which seems very narrow
and delicate-looking in its broad frame of elaborately arranged hair.
Her bearing is dignified, in spite of her uncomfortable dress. In one
hand she carries an immense handkerchief, and in the other a rose, both
resting lightly on the outer edge of the huge hemisphere, of which her
slender figure forms, as it were, the central axis. Her sad and lonely
after-life as a neglected queen, in the gay and dissolute French court,
makes the picture singularly pathetic. There is a look of sweet patience
in the face, which seems to anticipate the coming years.

[Illustration: PRINCESS MARIA THERESA.--VELASQUEZ.]

By King Philip's second marriage he brought to the Spanish court as
his wife the Princess Mariana of Austria, who was then only fourteen
years of age. The young queen was of course frequently portrayed by the
court painter, but she did not make a very attractive subject for his
skill, with her rather dull eyes and her full lips, and cheeks
plentifully bedaubed with rouge.

As there was a difference of but three years in the ages of the
child-wife and the Princess Maria Theresa, the two were const