María Luisa de la Riva in her Paris studio

Rather than “a distinguished amateur painter”, as she was described by the writer Manuel Ossorio y Bernard in 1883, María Luisa de la Riva was - as she herself stated in some of her letters - a “professional painter who works for a living”, with a long and successful career. She is pictured here, at the age of 41, in her studio, surrounded by her works and the props used in some of her compositions.