On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P00720
- Author
- Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de (Spanish)
- Title
- Queen Maria Luisa on Horseback
- Chronology
- 1799
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 338 cm x 282 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
An equestrian portrait of Queen
Maria Luisa of Parma (1751-1818),
the wife of King Carlos IV
(1748-1819), wearing the uniform of
a colonel of the Guardia de Corp.
This painting was made as a pair to
the equestrian portrait of the
King, which is also at the Prado
Museum (P719).
Goya admirably emphasizes the
Queen's strong personality. She
mounts “Marcial,” a horse given her
by Manuel Godoy (1767-1851). The
Monastery of El Escorial and the
mountains of the Sierra Madrileña
are visible in the background
The composition reveals Velasquez's
influence on Goya, with the figure
in the foreground, in front of a
landscape. This reference may have
come from the equestrian portraits
painted for the Hall of Kingdoms at
the Buen Retiro palace, of which
Goya made etchings in 1778,
especially, Velasquez's Equestrian
Portrait of Isabel de Bourbon
(P1179).
The present work was registered at
Madrid's Royal Palace in 1814 and
became a part of the Prado Museum
collection in 1819. Correspondence
between the Queen and Godoy in 1799
goes into considerable detail about
how the portrait was made between
September and October of that same
year.
Location on the map
