Charles IV of Bourbon, Prince of Asturias
1763. Pastel on paper. Room 039In this half-length portrait, the prince appears indoors, turned slightly to the right but looking directly out at the viewer. A three-cornered hat is visible under his left arm and his right hand rests on what appears to be a richly worked helmet. On his chest, he wears the Toison and the insignias of the Orders of Saint Genaro and the Saint-Ésprit.
The Museo del Prado’s inventories assigned this work to the French school until F. J. Sánchez Cantón related it to other pastels at the museum and attributed it to Lorenzo Tiepolo (F. J. Sánchez Cantón: "Lorenzo Tiepolo, pastelista", Archivo Español de Arte, 1925, p. 230). A document dated in Aranjuez on January 10, 1763, which mentions that Lorenzo Tiepolo was painting the Prince of Asturias, was quoted by Sánchez Cantón as an indication that the present likeness may date from that same year. Moreover, Charles of Bourbon was born in Naples in 1748, and his appearance here coincides with an age of around fourteen or fifteen, which coincides with the date mentioned in those documents.
Along with D07435, D07428, D07420, D07421 and D07422, this must be one of the portraits attributed to one of Tiepolo’s sons, mentioned in the 1794 Inventory of the New Palace in Madrid (Text drawn from Mena Marqués, M.: Catálogo de dibujos. VII. Dibujos italianos del siglo XVIII y del siglo XIX, Museo del Prado, 1990, pp. 148-149).