#group portrait

This one apparently started life under a different name — an auction catalogue in 1696 just called it 'a merry company in a room.' It's also one of only three paintings he actually signed and dated, which is a strange thing to bother with for a scene like this one.

The little girl in white is a Spanish princess, surrounded by her maids, a dog, and two court dwarfs who were apparently real people with names of their own, kept around for entertainment — which reads differently now than it must have then. There's also a small mirror on the back wall that, from what I can tell, reflects the king and queen, apparently right about where they'd have been standing to watch all this get painted.

The story behind this, apparently, is that the count once gave generously to this particular church, and in return was promised he'd be buried by saints in person. Whether or not you believe that part, this ended up in a church in a very large altarpiece.