General Pedro Caro Sureda, Marquis of La Romana
Ca. 1815. Oil on panel.Not on display
The person portrayed is dressed in the uniform of captain general, on which he is wearing the great cross and sash of the Order of Charles III. He is also wearing another decoration, which is unidentified; probably of foreign origin. He is pointing towards a landscape background.
Pedro Caro Sureda, 3rd Marquis of La Romana, was one of the most significant figures of the Peninsular War [in Spanish, ‘War of Independence’]. He was born in Palma de Mallorca on 3 October 1761, and studied philosophy and literature. He later entered Cartagena Naval College, where he became a midshipman in 1779. He served under his uncle Ventura Caro. Valour in action saw him later promoted to field marshal and acting captain general of Catalonia in 1800. He was appointed commander of the Spanish troops fighting against Napoleon in northern Europe. When Spain declared war against France, he embarked his decimated troops on a famous and risky expedition from Straslund to mainland Spain, placing himself under the command of the English General Moore on his arrival.
Pedro Caro was a member of Real Maestranza de Valencia, of His Majesty´s Council of State and of the Supreme Board of Government of the Kingdom. He was also engineer general of infantry, cavalry and militia and captain general of the royal armies. On his death in Cartaxo (Portugal) on 23rd January 1811, Ferdinand VII awarded the soldier’s son the grandeur of Spain of the 1st class, in memory of the services he had rendered. Although the Marquis de la Romana died in 1811, the compositional style of the portrait and its technique correspond to the first years of Vicente López´s stay in Madrid, already at the service of Ferdinand VII. Thus, it is likely that the portrait is of a posthumous effigy.Díez García, José Luis, Vicente López (1772-1850) II. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Fundación de Apoyo a la Historia del Arte Hispánico, 1999, p.128 (cop.B)
