A Version in England
A smaller version of the painting is preserved in the country house of Kingston Lacy in Dorset, England. Several experts, including the former Curator of the Department of Renaissance and Baroque Painting in the Museo del Prado and current Director of the Moll Institute of Studies of Flemish Paintings, in Madrid, Professor Matías Díaz Padrón, suggest that this "could be a model" painted by Velázquez before the completed work which hangs in the Prado Museum, perhaps to be approved by the king. Conflicting with this is the fact that the Kingston Lacy version represents the final state of Las Meninas, not the earlier state of the painting revealed by radiographs, suggesting that it was painted after the completed work, not before it.
Another possibility is that the Kingston Lacy painting is a copy by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (c. 1612-1667), son-in-law and close follower of Velázquez. The version is missing some of the final work's details and nuances such as the royal couple's reflection in the mirror. Its composition is almost identical to the original. Although its colors are lighter, the light is less strong. Pencil lines outlining the Infanta's face, eyes, and hair are also visible.
The Kingston Lacy painting has previously been owned by Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos and by Ceán Bermúdez, who published writings on it in 1885.
Read more about this topic: Las Meninas
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