- Cronología
- 1783
- Ubicación
- The Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
- Dimensiones
- 82.5 x 61.7 cm
- Técnica y soporte
- Oil on wood panel
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Undisputed work
- Titular
- Istituti Museali della Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Fiorentino
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 08 Mar 2010 / 01 Jun 2023
- Inventario
- 9484
Goya probably painted this sketch in 1783, during his first summer in Arenas de San Pedro (Ávila), in order to make the finished painting (now lost) from it later in Madrid. The final painting was almost certainly commissioned as a companion piece to that of the Infante, painted by Francesco Sasso en 1767.
This is a preparatory sketch of the Infante Luis Antonio de Bourbon's wife on horseback, looking forwards and wearing a blue riding outfit. Her head is extravagantly decorated with feathers and she is holding the animal's reins with great poise, her posture reminiscent of the equestrian portraits by Velázquez which Goya made etchings of in around 1777-1778.
The painter has situated the figure in a natural setting, with the backdrop probably representing the Sierra de Gredos mountains. According to Manuela Mena, the scenery and the exquisitely painted plants in the foreground tie this sketch to the portrait of the daughter of the Infanta, María Teresa de Bourbon, the futureCountess of Chinchón, painted in 1783.
In the letter that Goya wrote in Madrid to his close friend Martín Zapater on 2 July 1784, he mentions the finished painting: My dearest Martín: I am skinny and I am not working much. I still have not finished the horseback portrait of the Infante's wife, but there is not much left to do.
For more biographical information, see Mª Teresa de Vallabriga.
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Goya. El Capricho y la Invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturasMuseo Nacional del PradoMadrid1993from November 18th 1993 to February 15th 1994. Exhibited also at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, March 18th to June 12th 1994 and The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, July 16th to October 16th 1994, consultant editors Manuela B. Mena Marqués and Juliet Wilson-Bareaucat. 59
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Goya: Prophet der ModerneAlte NationalgalerieBerlin2005from July 13th to October 3th 2005. Exhibitied also at the Kunsthistorischemuseum, Vienna, October 18th 2005 to January 8th 2006, consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marquéscat. 11
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Goya y el infante don Luis: el exilio y el reino.Palacio Real, MadridMadrid2012Arte y ciencia en la época de la ilustración española. Responsable científico Francisco Calvo Serraller. Del octubre de 2012 a enero de 2013.cat. 18
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Goya: The PortraitsLondon2015cat. 6
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Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturasMadridMuseo del Prado1993pp. 248 y 249 (il.)
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Cartas a Martín ZapaterMadridIstmo2003p. 173, nº 53
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LondonNational Gallery Company2015p. 43