In Rome in 1566 the Cardinal Vitelli gave a sumptuous banquet at
which the table-attendants were 34 dwarfs. Peter the Great of
Russia had a passion for dwarfs, and in 1710 gave a great
celebration in honor of the marriage of his favorite, Valakoff,
with the dwarf of the Princess Prescovie Theodorovna. There were
72 dwarfs of both sexes present to form the bridal party.
Subsequently, on account of dangerous and difficult labor, such
marriages were forbidden in Russia.
In England and in Spain the nobles had the portraits of their
dwarfs painted by the celebrated artists of the day. Velasquez
has represented Don Antonio el Ingles, a dwarf of fine
appearance, with a large dog, probably to bring out the dwarf's
inferior height. This artist also painted a great number of other
dwarfs at the Court of Spain, and in one of his paintings he
portrays the Infanta Marguerite accompanied by her male and
female dwarfs. Reproductions of these portraits have been given
by Garnier. In the pictures of Raphael, Paul Veronese, and
Dominiquin, and in the "Triumph of Caesar" by Mantegna,
representations of dwarfs are found, as well as in other earlier
pictures representing Court events. At the present time only
Russia and Turkey seem to have popular sympathy for dwarfs, and
this in a limited degree.
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