Word: infanta
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...exquisite little head of Philip IV's daughter, the Infanta Maria Teresa, is even more summary. Velazquez paints shapes that look so obsolete that they're almost abstract--the massive cornrowing of the brown wig, for instance, and the mysterious, icily translucent lace butterflies that adorn it. He paints paint, or, more exactly, cosmetics: that pale mask flushed with matte pink, a plain little girl--she was a teenager then--propelled onto the international market by Papa's political schemes. Such portraits were made to be sent abroad to the relevant ambassadors, in the hope of arranging a suitable marriage...
Speaking of lovely characters, Alison Walla, a first-year at Boston University, wins the award for "Best Performance in the Role of a Lovely but Airheaded Infanta." Walla is not only an entrancing and sweet-throated singer (when she is--you guessed it--being loud enough), but also a superb actress who manages to portray the beautiful ingenue (wrapped up in faux Venetian lace get-ups) with just the right amount of whiny, aristocratic empty-headedness...