María Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga

María Teresa de Bourbon y Vallabriga was born in 1780. María Teresa de Bourbon y Vallabriga (1780-1820) was the daughter of the Infante Don Luis de Bourbon, brother of Charles III, and of Doña María Teresa de Vallabriga y Rozas. She spent the first five years of her life in Arenas de San Pedro (Ávila), where Goya painted her on at least two occasions. This is considered to be among Goya's finest portraits of children.

The full-length portrait shows the girl on a terrace in front of the Sierra de Gredos mountains. She is wearing very grown-up clothes: a dress in the court style and a white lace mantilla that covers much of her small body. A blue ribbon with a pink rose adorns her hair net. We can see her bright blue shoes, decorated with golden buckles, poking out from underneath the bottom of her skirt. Her rosy face, with red lips and shining eyes, gives her a very healthy appearance. Beside her is a small poodle, painted in a masterly fashion with long, sweeping brushstrokes.

Just as occurs with the companion piece to this painting, the portrait of the subject's brother, Luis María de Bourbon y Vallabriga, we can appreciate certain Velázquez-like touches in the technical and iconographic aspects of this work.