Las Meninas

Velázquez was knighted into the Order of Santiago in November 1659, three years after the painting was finished. Rather than commission a new portrait, he went back into Las Meninas and added the cross himself. Royal tradition holds that King Philip IV painted it; X-ray analysis shows the paint layer was added on top of a fully dried surface. Either way, the medal is a later edit, performed on a painting that had been hanging in the king's office for years. Now at Museo del Prado, Madrid @museodelprado