Francisco de Goya

The Countess of Chinchón (La condesa de Chinchón)

The Countess of Chinchón (La condesa de Chinchón)
Datos Generales
Cronología
1800
Ubicación
The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Dimensiones
216 x 144 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Titular
El Prado National Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
21 Jan 2010 / 16 Jun 2023
Inventario
(P07767)
Historia

This work came from Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) and belonged to the descendants of the sitter, the Count and Countess of Chinchón. It was later inherited by the Duke and Duchess of Sueca. It was acquired by the Prado Museum in 2000.

Análisis artístico

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. The first five years of her life were spent in Arenas de San Pedro (Ávila), where Goya painted a portrait of her in a garden. When her father died in 1785 she was sent, along with her sister María Luisa de Borbón y Vallabriga, to the convent of San Clemente in Toledo, which she finally left in 1797 to marry Manuel Godoy, a minister during the reign of Charles IV. From their marriage was born a daughter, the Infanta Carlota, raised by Queen María Luisa. After the rebellion of Aranjuez, in which Godoy was imprisoned, María Teresa fled to Toledo with her brother and, in 1824, when he died, she went into exile in Paris, where she died four years later following a prolonged period of illness.

The countess was here depicted at the age of twenty-one, pregnant with her daughter, the Infanta Carlota. She is in front of a dark background, seated in a golden period armchair and wearing a dress of white gauze decorated with small flowers and a low neckline. The cloth features some detailed folds and touches of grey, whilst the sitter's hair displays abundant blonde curls, tied back and decorated with ears of wheat (a symbol of fertility) and green feathers, with a ribbon tied under her chin. Her hands, clasped together over her belly, are both adorned with a ring, on one of which we can make out an image of her husband. The painter has focused all of his attention on the timid, somewhat daydreaming character of the countess. The warm colour palette employed gives a heightened sense of delicacy and elegance to the figure. This is without a doubt a key piece in the artist's oeuvre.

Exposiciones
  • Spanish paintings
    The Royal Academy of Arts
    London
    1920
  • Pinturas de Goya
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1928
    consultant editor Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor. From April to May 1928
  • Les chefs-d’œuvre du Musée du Prado
    Musée d’Art et d’Histoire
    Geneva
    1939
    consultant editors Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor y Pedro Muguruza Otaño. From June to September 1939
  • Exposición conmemorativa del centenario de Goya
    Palacio de Oriente
    Madrid
    1946
    organized by Patrimonio Nacional. June 1946
  • Francisco de Goya. IV Centenario de la capitalidad
    organized by Ayuntamiento de Madrid and Dirección General de Bellas Artes at the Casón del Buen Retiro
    Madrid
    1961
    consultant editor Valentín de Sambricio
  • Goya and his times
    The Royal Academy of Arts
    London
    1963
    cat. 66
  • Goya
    Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis
    The Hauge
    1970
    organized by Ministerio de Estado y Asuntos Culturales and Réunion des Musées Nationaux, July 4th to September 13th 1970. Exhibited also at the Musée de l’Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, October 25th to December 7th 1970, consultant editors Jeannine Baticle and A. B. de Vries
  • Goya en las colecciones madrileñas
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1983
    consultant editor Enrique Lafuente Ferrari. From April 19th to June 20th 1983
  • Goya nelle collezioni private di Spagne
    Villa Favorita
    Lugano
    1986
    consultant editor Marta Medina. From June 15th to October 15th 1986
  • La Condesa de Chinchón
    The National Gallery
    London
    1987
  • Goya y el espíritu de la Ilustración
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1988
    from October 6th to December 18th 1988. Exhibited also at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 18th to March 26th 1989; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York, May 9th to July 16th 1989, Madrid curator Manuela B. Mena Marqués, scientific directors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Eleanor A. Sayre
  • Goya: The Condesa de Chinchón and other Paintings, Drawings, and Prints
    The National Gallery of Art
    Washington
    1986
    Goya: The Condesa de Chinchón and other Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from Spanish and American Private Collections and the National Gallery of Art.
  • Goya
    La Lonja, Torreón Fortea y Museo Pablo Gargallo
    Zaragoza
    1992
    consultant editor Julián Gállego
  • Goya. La década de Los Caprichos
    Madrid
    1992
    organized by Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando sponsored by Fundación Central Hispano, Madrid, consultant editor Nigel Glendinnig. From October 26th 1992 to January 10th 1993
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
  • Goya en tiempos de guerra
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2008
    consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués, from April 14th to July 13th 2008
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    París
    1928-1950
    vol. II, p. 29, cat. 308
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 197, cat. 793
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 310, cat. 425
  • SALAS, Xavier de
    Goya
    BarcelonaCarroggio S.A. de Ediciones
    1974
    p. 189, cat. 360
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique (comisario)
    Goya en las colecciones madrileñas
    MadridAmigos del Museo del Prado
    1983
    pp. 174-177 (il.), cat. 30
  • PÉREZ SÁNCHEZ, Alfonso E. y SAYRE, Eleanor A. (directores) and MENA, Manuela B. (comisaria)
    Goya y el espíritu de la Ilustración
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1988
    p. 252-253 (il.) ,2 54, cat. 63
  • GÁLLEGO, Julián
    Goya
    ZaragozaElecta
    1992
    pp. 104 y 105 (il.), cat. 37
  • LUNA, Juan J. (Comisario)
    Goya. 250 Aniversario
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1996
    p. 199 (il) y 380, cat. 104
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B.
    Goya en tiempos de guerra
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2008
    pp. 188, 189 (il.) y 190, cat. 29
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    pp. 186-187
Enlaces externos
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