RT Journal
A1 Dominguez R
T1 Velázquez' dwarfs: A profusion of diagnoses-reply
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1989
FD July 21
VO 262
IS 3
SP 350
OP 350
DO 10.1001/jama.1989.03430030037017
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1989.03430030037017
AB In Reply. — 
    The subject of bone dysplasias is still not very well understood and consequently open to controversy; the untreated cretin usually presents with epiphyseal dysgenesis and metaphyseal and disaphyseal dysplastic changes secondary to delayed and abnormal skeletal maturation. The results are stunted height, coxa plana, bowed legs, increased lumbar kyphosis, and shortening at the base of the skull,1,2 features that may resemble those of achondroplasia and some forms of mucopolysaccharidosis. El Nino de Vallecas, besides his dwarfed body, has the stunted look of an idiot, a feature absent in the normally intelligent achondroplastic.Velázquez has several paintings of dwarfs at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. The female dwarf displayed in his painting Las Meninas was Maria Barbola, a German lady-in-waiting for the princess and most probably an achondroplastic.