Margarita Teresa: Infanta of Spain, Diego Velázquez, c. 1655
This year marks the 360th anniversary of the birth of the Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain (1651-1673), whose famous face graces not one, but two portraits belonging to the Lobkowicz Collections.
The Daughter of Philip IV of Spain and his second wife, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, Margarita Teresa became consort to the Holy Roman Emperor following her December 1666 marriage to her only surviving maternal uncle, Leopold I (1640-1705), to whom she had been betrothed since childhood and under whom Václav Eusebius (1609-1677), 2nd Prince Lobkowicz, served as Chancellor of the Czech Kingdom.
In spite of her youth and the eleven-year age difference between them, the Emperor and his consort are said to have shared many interests, particularly theater and music, and to have had a very happy, if brief, marriage. Their union ended tragically when Margarita Teresa, already weakened by several earlier miscarriages, died shortly after giving birth to her fourth child at the age of 22.
The beautiful Infanta is depicted at the age of five and a Collections portrait attributed to Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. This important painting is on display in the Rožmberk Room at the Lobkowicz Palace.
A second portrait of Infanta Margarita Teresa as a young woman can be seen in the Princess' Boudoir at Nelahozeves Castle.
