But sweetest of all is the picture called 'The Maids of Honour' ('Les Meninas'), in which the princess, aged about six, is being posed for her portrait.

She is petulant and tired, and two of her handmaidens are cajoling her to stand still.

Her two dwarfs and a big dog have been brought to amuse her, and the King and Queen, reflected in a mirror at the end of the room, stand watching the scene.

Velasquez himself, with his easel and brushes, is at the side, painting.

The picture perpetuates for centuries a moment of palace life.