3-097-984 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Charles II as a child, 1675. Charles II of Spain (1661-1700), depicted at about the age of fourteen, standing in the Hall of Mirrors of the Alcázar, beside a porphyry table supported by two of Matteo Bonuccelli's gilt bronze lions. He is dressed in black silk and wears the Order of the Golden Fleece. In his right hand, he holds a folded memorial. Behind him, on the table, is a large porphyry urn, and hanging at the same height on the wall are two mirrors with ebony frames and gilt bronze eagles facing each other. Above these, the lower part of a painting is visible. The mirrors reflect the back of the king's head and the opposite wall of the room, where several of the canvases that decorated the space can be seen, as well as a half-open door. In the mirror, one can identify Titian's Tityus and Rubens's equestrian portrait of Philip IV, 1628, lost in the fire at the Alcázar. Mandibular prognathism, also known as Habsburg jaw, or Habsburg or Austrian lip, due to its prevalence in members of the House of Habsburg, is a potentially disfiguring genetic disorder where the lower jaw outgrows the upper, resulting in an extended chin and a crossbite. In both humans and animals, it can be the result of inbreeding.