Answer:
The question is poorly formulated, although the answer is
A) By painting him on horseback, any imperfections were easily minimized,
Step-by-step explanation:
The answer does not refer to the king but to the technique used by the painter when the painting in question was affected by a fire and the painter, Diego de Velázquez, retouches it to ensure the correct position of the king and the horse.
Logically, this is no criticism of the painting of a universal painter, it is only an explanation of an obvious fact when contemplating the works of Diego Velázquez: instead of majestic steeds, his horses are bellies and butts.
In addition to painting a chubby horse, in this painting one can appreciate the so-called pentimenti or pentimento (repentance), the modifications that the painters made in the paintings to correct something they did not like. Although these modifications were covered by the new layer of paint, time has brought some of them to light. In some cases, it can be verified that the canvas has been reused to paint a completely different picture. In this painting they can be clearly seen in the profile of the king's face, in the feathers of the hat and, above all, in the three hind legs of the horse. Returning to the subject at hand, it is said that the horses in the paintings of the great Velázquez had such workmanship because they were dead "models". The horses were hung and, after several hours or days "posing", the gases that were typical of the decomposition of the corpse bulged and deformed it. The pentimenti of the legs could have been due to the fact that he had to overcome the stiffness of the cadaveric extremities of the horses.
There are two other versions of the shapes of these horses:
1.- Velázquez wanted to show robust and vigorous horses that characterized the breed created for the Spanish cavalry, fruit of the crossing of flamenco specimens, unique for their strength, with Andalusian horses, fast and elegant.
2.- These equestrian portraits were to be placed over the doors of the Hall of the Kingdoms of the Buen Retiro Palace, some five metres from the ground. Seen from below, the perspective should provide perfect workmanship.