According to López-Rey, the painting has three focal points: the Infanta Margarita, the self-portrait and the half-length reflected images of Philip IV and Queen Mariana.

According to the first tradition, the next holder of Beira would be Infanta Mariana Vitória of Portugal ( 1768 – 88 ), the eldest daughter of Maria I and Pedro III.

According to the mother of the Régent, Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Mariana Victoria was the " sweetest and prettiest little thing " and had considerable wit for her age.

According to the writer Marianna Torgovnick, " The most fully documented instances of cannibalism as a social institution come from New Guinea, where head-hunting and ritual cannibalism survived, in certain isolated areas, into the fifties, sixties, and seventies, and still leave traces within certain social groups.