I know a little bit about art history and from what I know I would say this is true, atleast true in the Spanish court. Diego Velazquez, who you might know for his famous "Las Meninas," as you can see in the bottom right hand corner, a dwarf (which I will refer to as such since that was how I was taught, I'm sorry if I offend anybody) is attending the princess. This was common practice apparently since the princess must always have her head up high and be able to view over peasants and dwarves would allow a young girl to do so because of their stature.

Here is a broad google search of different court dwarfs he painted individually to practice, you'll notice that some of these might be a little more sloppy than his other works since he cared a little less than when he painted royals.