Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) of Spain was the artist who painted the Marquesa (1762-1834) when she was 24. Likely it was for an engagement portrait for her first marriage to the nobleman Francisco de Monino y Redondo, the Spanish ambassador to Portugal. (Twenty-four seems rather old for a woman's first engagement for that time period and even, "old" centuries later. If this is her engagement gown, imagine her wedding apparel.)
After her husband's death in 1808 the Marquesa married a royal bodyguard, Don Fernando de Silva y Meneses, who died in 1817 before her last marriage in the same year to her most famous husband, Joaquín Pérez Vizcaino y Moles (1790-1840 and 30 years younger than the Marquesa!).
Joaquin joined forces with the militia to oppose King Ferdinand VII, which forced the couple to flee and spend 11 years traveling throughout Europe (mostly in France) before they returned to their native country.*
The Marquesa was born on September 11, 1762, the only child of a wealthy Spanish couple. When her father died in 1807, she inherited her title.
She's a beaut, a tall lass, elongated in the manner of Diego Velázquez whose works Goya admired and found in the royal collection to copy. Goya was a masterful portraitist, considered "the most important Spanish artist" of his time, says Wikipedia,
The Marquesa de Pontejos, c. 1786 by Francisco de Goya, National Gallery of Art/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Goya fancies the Marquesa in the style of Marie Antoinette, apparel which the Marquesa and others of her station declined to wear publicly because of shame and unpatriotic criticisms from common people. (Rather like wearing a mink coat in the U.S. today: Beware of paint and PETA!)
Notes from art historians mention the Marquesa's tiny waist which was likely made possible by heavy corseting.
Look at it. Possible? Do you suppose artists then, as they do now, use their artistic license to remove pounds and lines? Especially for commissioned pieces?
Notes from art historians mention the Marquesa's tiny waist which was likely made possible by heavy corseting.
Look at it. Possible? Do you suppose artists then, as they do now, use their artistic license to remove pounds and lines? Especially for commissioned pieces?
The Marquesa's dress is strewn with fresh pink flowers, maybe roses, but alas, her expression is one of boredom, matched by the droopy, limp carnation in her right hand. Art historians gleefully point to it as a symbol of "love," however, it matches her face and the suspected direction of a relationship we'll never know. Many women of high rank were portrayed with big smiles, missing here.
Was she unhappy at the prospects of marrying Redondo? I imagine it was an arranged marriage. for surely, Goya painted her in person without photographs (invented 40 years later).
She stood for him in the uncomfortable gear and look at her shoes! Ouch!
She stood for him in the uncomfortable gear and look at her shoes! Ouch!
Her head gear practically becomes a halo which, to an artist 16 years older, she might have possessed.
A pug in the lower right corner barks in the children's audio at this NGA link.
In 1786 the year of this painting, King Charles III appointed Goya the painter to the king and shortly after his coronation in 1789, Charles IV made him court painter.
Hear the NGA audio about the painting in several difference languages.
*From Jonathan Brown and Richard G. Mann, Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries, National Gallery of Art, 1990
Hear the NGA audio about the painting in several difference languages.
*From Jonathan Brown and Richard G. Mann, Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries, National Gallery of Art, 1990
Who: The Marquesa de Pontejos
What: by Franciso de Goya
When: c. 1786
Where: The West Building, National Gallery of Art, Washington
What time: Under normal circumstances, the National Gallery is open seven days a week, but given these unnormal circumstances, please check the website.
Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza
For more information: 202-737-4215
What time: Under normal circumstances, the National Gallery is open seven days a week, but given these unnormal circumstances, please check the website.
Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza
For more information: 202-737-4215
How much: Admission to the National Gallery is always free.
patricialesli@gmail.com
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