Overview

• The team reduced oxidized varnish and removed later overpaint, bringing back the work’s chromatic richness, light and surface texture.
• Conservators resolved the historical lateral additions made for the Salón de Reinos, retaining evidence of the cut fragment that once fit over a doorway and stabilizing vulnerable areas.
• Findings underscore Velázquez’s dialogue with Titian’s Charles V at Mühlberg and the brushwork that reads as discrete strokes up close yet forms clear images at a distance.
• The portrait belongs to the royal program conceived for the Salón de Reinos and later underwent re-lining at the Palacio Real, interventions now visible yet less intrusive after treatment.
• Fundación Iberdrola España sponsored the project, whose leadership says the painting now presents the original conception more faithfully.