Philip IV was in trouble. Spain’s far-flung empire ... monumental full-length portrait painted by the Spanish genius Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, loaned by Madrid’s Prado Museum ...

Beside Mari-Bárbola is the Italian midget Nicolasito Pertusato, who is waking up, or teasing, the dozing mastiff. In the shadows behind Doña Isabel stands a court lady, Marcella de Ulloa, in a nun’s ...