arthistorygoose:

I am writing a paper on court dwarfs in art so I figured I’d share some of my research. What we have here is Archduchess Isabella and her attendant dwarf, Magdalena Ruiz. Philip II refers to Ruiz in a letter written to his daughters, “I do not think Magdalena is so angry with me, but she has been sick for some days, and has taken a laxative and remains in a very bad mood. Yesterday she came here and looked very spiritless, and thin and old and deaf and half-senile. I think it is all from drinking…”

~

Alonso Sánchez Coello

Portrait of Isabel Clara Eugenia and Magdalena Ruiz, c.1586

“Dear diary: my dwarf is in a bad mood even after crapping mightily. The monkeys do not seem to improve her health, and are reportedly stealing her food. One of these days she’s going to fall into a barrel of wine and drown…smiling, I like to imagine.”