Charles II as a Child Sebastián de Herrera Barnuevo (after)

The child in the picture, aged around twelve, is Charles II, the last Habsburg ruler to sit on the Spanish throne. Known to his contemporaries as “the bewitched”, due to his physical and mental disabilities, the boy was not even four years old when he became king upon the death of his father, Philip IV. Until he turned fourteen, however, affairs of state were officially handled by his mother, Marie Anne of Austria, who even afterwards continued her role as regent, albeit from the background. Charles II eventually died without an heir, which launched the country into the War of the Spanish Succession. Herrera Barnuevo became court painter in 1667, and he created the prototype for the childhood portrait of Charles II. His workshop associates subsequently produced variations based on his original. Judging from the presumed age of the king in this work, it was probably painted by an unknown follower of the artist.