This portrait of the young Infanta Margarita of Spain is painted in the manner of Diego de Velázquez, the leading painter at the court of Philip IV and one of the most important artists of the Spanish Golden Age. Velázquez painted the Infanta many times during her childhood and she appears prominently in his most famous work, 'Las Meninas' (Prado).

Painted by an unknown follower of Velázquez, the composition and use of colour seen in this portrait are true to the Master. However, it lacks the free and luminous paint work which characterised Velázquez's later style, particularly in the handling of the Infanta's richly embellished Baroque dress, which dominates the canvas.

Infanta Margarita of Spain was the daughter of King Philip IV and his second wife, Queen Mariana of Austria. As a child she was betrothed to her maternal uncle, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, whom she later married. Many of the portraits of the Infanta, painted by Velázquez and his successor as court painter, Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo, were intended for Leopold I and were sent to his court in Vienna.

Here the Infanta, aged about seven is shown in full-length, wearing the guardainfante or wide-hipped farthingale, which has become synonymous with Golden Age Spain under Philip IV and his second Queen, Mariana of Austria, through the portraits of Velázquez.