María Luisa de Bourbon y Vallabriga

María Luisa was the youngest daughter of the infante Don Luis de Borbón and Mª Teresa Vallabriga. Sister, therefore, of Mª Teresa, future Countess of Chinchón and wife of Manuel Godoy, and Luis María, invested Cardinal Primate and Archbishop of Toledo. Goya, well received by the Infante Don Luis, had the opportunity to portray all the members of this family. Mª Luisa married the Duke of San Fernando de Quiroga, leaving no descendants. For a long time it was erroneously assumed that this portrait represented her sister Mª Teresa.

Maria Luisa is depicted here standing full-length, against a dark, neutral background, with her body turned to her right and her hands clasped, holding a fan. She wears a vaporous long white gown with pinkish transparencies, low-cut and short-sleeved. Her curly hair is tied back with a feathered headdress from which a blue ribbon hangs at the nape of her neck. As the only sign of ostentation, she discreetly wears the sash and starry cross of the order of Maria Luisa, which was granted to her in 1800, and some jewelry (bracelet, necklace and earrings).

The sitter, with a seductive gaze, smiles shyly, imbued with the official nature of the portrait. The tenderness and subtlety of the portrait stand out, both in the psychological capture of the sitter and in the treatment of the textures of the dress.