A parting postcard from Wien: Diego Velazquez’ portrait of the Infanta Margarita Teresa at the incomparable Kunsthistorisches Museum. Such a tragic, harrowing portrait of childhood sacrificed on the altar of monarchy’s hereditary principle (this is the girl at the center of Velazquez’ Las Meninas in Madrid). Empress Margarita Teresa died aged 21 after having given birth to four children herself, only one of which (hardly) survived into adulthood. So much for all the Habsburg riches in the world. Overcome by sympathy for her princely plight, I went to see her grave in the Kapuzinergruft that same day – the imperial burial chamber that contains the remains of over a couple dozen emperors and empresses, the sitter for some of Velazquez’ most celebrated, searing portraits among them. Of course, I did not fail to make a note-to-self of the fact that “the Empress reportedly inspired her husband to expel the Jews from Vienna, because she believed that they were to blame for her children's deaths.” And indeed in 1670, her husband, the repellent Emperor Leopold I, ordered the destruction of the Vienna synagogue, which was replaced by a church built on his orders. The imperial crypt is a must-see Viennese landmark for all ye deathheads. @kunsthistorischesmuseumvienna @kapuzinergruft #diegovelazquez #vienna #wien #habsburg #infanta