The prowess of this internationally acclaimed artist is patent in this superb portrait of the Infanta Margarita of Austria. A print on two separate sheets, the black and carborundum background reinforces the chromatic impact and the details obtained through .

This work belongs to the second period in Manolo Valdés’ career, which began after the death of his friend and collaborator Rafael Solbes in 1981. Before that, as a member of the Equipo Crónica collective he had satirised Spanish iconological models, riffing on Roy Lichtenstein’s “comics” and the laconic facticity of Andy Warhol’s everyday objects.

Afterwards his practice adopted a more reflective mood. Once again, he used models taken from artists from the past —including José de Ribera (1591-1652), Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) and Francisco Zurbarán (1598-1664)— but now diluting the iconic value and the mockery and irony from his previous phase, using , engraving or sculpture as his chosen media.

This print of Margarita de Austria is a reinterpretation of the portrait of the Infanta painted by Velázquez and finished by the great master’s son-in-law Juan Bautista del Mazo (1612-1667) after his untimely death. However, in this case Valdés also engages in a dialogue with Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), using the latter’s signature black squares and primary colours to contrast with the sinuous round forms of the infanta’s headdress and her handkerchief.

Though dispensing with the infanta’s facial features, Valdés recreates all the other details: the handkerchief, the little bouquet of roses and violets, the sash, the hair, the necklace, the black neckline, the fan-shaped ribbon decorated with a brooch, or the earring in her right ear —all those elements remit to the portrait of the princess in what is undoubtedly a splendid tribute to the work of one of the all-time masters.