Female portrait

This is a portrait painted following the style of Velázquez; however, the tendency towards Baroque ostentation is apparent. It recalls the court portraits of Anton van Dyck (1599–1641), visible in paintings from the Madrid school from 1675-1700. Thus, in contrast with small portraits of previous time periods, the portrait’s subject does not appear over the usual neutral background, since red drapery on the right side suggests a closed and luxurious space. The painting has been dated to around 1680 due to the décolleté dress finished with broad lace, as well as the hair partings that fall over the shoulders and chest. If the character were to be Marie Louise d´Orléans (1662–1689), Queen consort of Spain through her 1679 marriage to Charles II, King of Spain – whom she greatly resembles – this would be one of the countless small portraits that were painted on the occasion of her betrothal to the king.

This painting could be either attributed to Venetian artist Francesco Leonardoni (1654–1711) or to Flemish artist Jan van Kessel the Younger (1654–1708), who established himself in Madrid in 1679 and was the painter of Queen Marie Louise d’Orléans, later of Maria Anna of Neuburg, and thus painter of all the nobility in Madrid. Leonardoni arrived at the court around 1680, and according to Palomino, he painted small portraits of ‘utter delicacy, among which I saw some of them, superior pieces, especially those of Their Majesties’. Ceán Bermúdez corroborates this opinion when he asserted that the artist excelled ‘in portraits, particularly in small ones that were quite detailed, which contributed too much to his fame in court’.

Espinosa Martín, Carmen, Las miniaturas en el Museo del Prado: catálogo razonado, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2011, p.27-28