Diego Velázquez, Queen Isabella of Bourbon, on horseback (c. 1635), before restoration. Photo courtesy of the Prado Museum

Artnet_ In the 1630s, Diego Velázquez unveiled his equestrian portrait of Isabel of Bourbon, depicting the queen atop a white steed in a resplendently detailed robe. It was a breathtaking painting but for one thing: it was the wrong size. Velázquez’s fix? He added lateral stripes to the left and right of the canvas, broadening the hilly landscape.

The years, however, have aged these additions differently from the original canvas. They grew discolored, further aggravated by a layer of varnish that was added in the 18th-century. The painting had also accumulated dirt and damage.

But not anymore. A recent conservation undertaken by the Prado Museum, which holds the work, has restored the painting’s original depth and colors, with the lateral additions newly blended into the main canvas. This effort is part of a project to restore Velázquez’s equestrian works.

“The queen has recovered the regal bearing and the serene and natural beauty with which she was portrayed,” María Álvarez Garcillán, of the Prado’s conservation department, said in a statement. “With unique mastery, the horse once again shows off its qualities in a display of naturalism that only a genius like Velázquez is capable of recreating.”

Velázquez’s Queen Elisabeth of France, on Horseback was created as one of a series of portraits meant to adorn the Salón de Reinos, a wing of the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid. The great hall hosted soirees and spectacles, as well as paintings celebrating the monarchy. Isabel’s portrait was intended to hang with that of her husband Philip IV and their son Prince Balthasar Carlos—all of them depicted on horseback.

In ways, Isabel’s and Philip’s equestrian portraits both complement and contrast with each other. Velázquez’s opted to place the queen on a white horse, echoing the stripe on the king’s rearing stallion. Where Philip is portrayed with a forward gaze, Isabel directs her eyes to the viewer, appearing composed atop her horse’s blanket and lavish gown bearing her anagram, which was not painted by Velázquez himself.

Rendering of Velázquez’s equestrian portraits hanging in the Salón de Reinos. Photo courtesy of the Prado Museum

However, due to a miscalculation in the hall’s decorative plan, Velázquez’s series of paintings had to be displaced by a meter to the sides. That meant Isabel and Philip’s portraits had to be enlarged by more than a meter in width, which, in turn, saw them overlap with side doors leading to the hall. In a peculiar solution, installers cut out extended portions of the canvas and attached them to the doors, such that the doors would open with sections of the paintings fastened to them.

Around 1762, when the portraits were moved to the Royal Palace of Madrid, they were reconstructed, the segments sewn together and varnish added before further restorations were carried out. Though the effort employed “reversible materials,” per the Prado, the conservation caused some controversy (as the restoration of Velázquez’s celebrated Las Meninas did in 1984).

X-ray of Diego Velázquez, Queen Isabella of Bourbon, on horseback (c. 1635), showing the seams where the canvas was extended. Photo courtesy of the Prado Museum

This latest round of conservation has cleared out the varnish and dirt off the painting’s surface such that its deep colors and contrasts have re-emerged. The hues now bear richer tones and transparencies, while the depth of the composition is restored, without the distorting yellowing of the varnish. The seams marking the new additions are still visible, but not in ways that disrupt Velázquez’s pastoral vista.

“This restoration shows us the original piece conceived by one of the great masters of Spanish painting returning the work to its original appearance, and showing us the splendor of the composition of this magnificent work as a whole, recovering the clarity and brilliance with which it was conceived,” said Jaime Alfonsín, president of the Iberdrola Spain Foundation, a partner of the Prado’s restoration program.

Queen Elisabeth of France, on Horseback has returned to view in the museum’s great basilica room.