Son of Philip V and Isabel Farnese, Louis Antonio of Bourbon was born July 25, 1727, became archbishop of Toledo on September 9, 1735, and became cardinal on December 9 of that year. In 1739, he also assumed the archbishopric of Seville. Regardless of his high ecclesiastical rank, he lacked the interest or capacity to carry out such activities, and led a life of hunting and pleasure unsuitable to his position. He resigned from the cardinalate and the administration of both archdioceses in 1754 to lead a comfortable, wealthy existence. In the court of his stepbrother, Ferdinand VI, he could stay current on various matters and then inform his mother, then in official retirement at the Palace of La Granja at San Ildefonso. When his brother Charles III took the throne, his adventures earned the new King´s disapproval. Charles III even exiled those who had supported the Infante in his activities, including the painter Luis Paret y Alcázar. On July 27, 1776, the Infante entered into a marriage with María Theresa de Vallabriga, who was below his station. Removed from court, they took up residence in Velada and Arenas de San Pedro. As art patrons they amassed a great collection and commissioned architects, sculptors and painters; the Infante was one of the great protectors of Goya. He died on August 7, 1785, leaving his widow with three young children: the future Cardinal Louis María of Bourbon, the Countess of Chinchón and the Duchess of San Fernando de Quiroga.

Ranch has painted the Infante at the age of four, in an artificial architectural oval with a trompe l´oeil effect, fairly realistic owing to the molding´s unfinished look. The supporting pedestal´s form evokes the appearance of etchings of the time. The boy wears an elegant jacket embroidered with white branching, which gives him a mature air. He displays the band of Saint-Esprit and holds a hat; his hand is supported by a table covered in a decorative tablecloth; a droll black dog serves as a slight correction to the rigor of the compositional formula. The simple background is animated by conventional tasseled drapes.

This must belong to a series of portraits rendered in Seville in 1731 which were formerly attributed to Michel-Ange Houasse. It has the hallmarks of Ranc: care, precision, and an interpretative grace that avoids and overly hieratic treatment. Two copies of this picture exist. One in Florence in the collection of Count Bino Sanminiatelli; the other in a private Spanish collection. (Text drawn from Luna Fernández, Juan J., The Majesty of Spain, Jackson, Mississippi, 2001, p. 51).

The Majesty of Spain. Royal Collections From the Museo del P, Jackson, Mississipi Commission For Internati, 2001, p.51