Queen Maria Luisa with Farthingale (La reina María Luisa con tontillo)

This painting, like its companion piece, was painted to commemorate the coronation of the king and queen in January of 1789. In these two works, Goya used a new, full-length composition, with certain characteristics shared by the three-quarter-length one, of which several replicas exist, and which was conceived and executed at around the same time.

In this full-length portrait, Queen María Luisa is portrayed standing, slightly turning to the right, in front of a dark, neutral background. She is wearing a large farthingale or panniers, worn underneath a skirt to extend it out into different shapes. In this case it is flat at the front and back and very wide at the sides, as was the fashion in the 17th century. The upper part of the dress, which is very closely fitted at the waist, is decorated with gauze, bows and, on the sleeves, lace frills. Poking out from underneath the skirt we can see her pointed shoes, decorated with golden buckles. On her head the queen wears a complicated headdress, with bows and feathers. She also wears the insignia of the Order of the Starry Cross. Her right hand is resting on a table over which is draped the ermine robe, with the royal crown on top.