On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P02201
- Author
- Mengs, Anton Rafael (German)
- Title
- Mary Amalia of Saxony
- Chronology
- 1761-1763
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 154 cm x 110 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
A frontal view of the Queen. She
sits, wearing a red silk dress with
white sleeves and bonnet. Her right
arm rests very naturally on a
table, while her left holds a book.
She is marking one of the pages
with her finger as though she had
just interrupted her reading. This
is quite common in female
portraits. Mary Amalia was born to
Friedrich Augustus III, King of
Poland and elector of Saxony; and
Mary Josephine of Austria, in 1724.
She married Carlos VII, king of
Naples and future Carlos III of
Spain, in 1738 and died in Madrid
in 1760, barely a year after taking
the throne there. The background of
pillars and green curtains
configures this official portrait
of the Queen of Spain, a pendant of
that of her husband (P2200).
Mengs probably made this painting
around 1761, shortly after he
arrived in Madrid. By the, the
queen had already died, making this
a posthumous portrait. That may
explain why there are no replicas
or copies, which were so numerous
in the case of Mengs' portrait of
her husband.
Location on the map
