Both the Boston Museum of Arts at his website and Justi and Heake suggest that this portrait may “may commemorate the swearing of allegiance by the nobles of Castile to the two-year-old heir to the throne.” They also note the contrast in the static pose of the prince, as an still photo in the background, and the dynamic appearance of the unknown dwarf.
The fact that is wearing rich dresses is attenuated by the domestic appearance of the object he is carrying in his hands (an apple and a toy regarded either as a bell or as a rattle), that contrast with the scepter and the flare of the prince. Prince and dwarf, side by side, the former dressed with all the external attributes of power, symbolized by the scepter and an orb, finds its grotesque reply in the rattle and the apple. The fact that the scepter becomes a toy and the world an edible object suggest that wordly power represented in the court is nothing but a game that shouldn’t be taken seriously. The bodies of the two infants are an allegory of the social body of sixteenth century Spain, in which the infant takes the place of the privileged and the dwarf that one of the plain people, in a pure Bakthinian fashion The parody of the social system of the Ancient Regimeis also reinforced by the dynamism and livelyness of the dwarf contrasting the hieratic demeanor of the prince, that poses in the bottom as if he were the background against the humble-bumble life of the Spanish people took place .
Melania Moscoso, 2009 ©
This obra by Representations of Disability in Spanish Baroque Portraiture:Velazquez´s jesters is licensed under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento 3.0 Estados Unidos License.
Based on a work at caperucitacoja.blogspot.com.
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