Las Meninas, by Velasquez
The famous auction house Christie’s has announced the selling of the famous blue diamond Margarita Teresa wore when she was painted by the Spanish paintor Velasquez.
The spectacular blue diamond was one of the jewels Philip IV offered as a present in 1664 to his daughter, Margarita Teresa, the main character in Velasquez’s painting “Las Meninas”.
The king himself had chosen the precious stone for his daughter, on the occasion of her engagement with Leopold I of Austria, future emperor.
The gem which, apart from its obvious historical value, is to be appreciated for its extremely rare color and the 35,56 karats will be taken out for auction on the 10th of December and specialists estimate it will be sold for a price higher than 11 million dollars.
The stone, also known as the Wittelsback Diamond, is one of the few blue diamonds that still exist nowadays, along with the Kohinoor (property of the British Crown), the Regent (currently preserved at The Louvre) and the Orlov (property of the Russian Government).
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This post was written by Dana Ciucalau on November 4, 2008
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