Rita Barrenechea y Morante, Marchioness of La Solana (Rita Barrenechea y Morante, marquesa de La Solana)

María Rita Barrenechea y Morante (1757-1795), Marchioness of La Solana, was married in 1775 to Juan de Mata Linares, Count of El Carpio, an officer with close ties to Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos. She was a cultivated woman, the author of a number of plays, who died prematurely from an illness a few months after posing for this painting for Goya.

She is depicted here full length, before a neutral grey background. Her slim figure is shown standing, wearing a black dress and with a white mantilla covering her shoulders and part of her head. Her hands are held crossed over each other by her waist, one of them holding a fan, and her sickly, reserved face is looking straight out at the viewer. The sombre colours of the portrait are only enlivened by the large pink bow she wears in her hair, and by her pointed golden shoes.