Royal Couples
1770. Oil on canvas.Room 039
This is Paret’s first large-format painting. The painting demonstrates how he had mastered composition in perspective with numerous figures from very early in his career. It also shows that he had already developed his characteristic painting style, affected and tending towards a cold range of chromaticism pearly in appearance. He painted it at the request of his protector, the Infante Don Luis. The event the canvas portrays is a partner dance that took place in the surroundings of the Palace of Aranjuez on 6 June 1770.
This courtly celebration is defined by different country dances performed on horseback to the rhythm of the music. According to the account of Juan Antonio Álvarez de Quindós, more than 70 steeds and around 200 people took part in the performance, although the most important participants were the 48 knights. Those knights were lavishly dressed in the old style and made up the four quadrilles that the figures carried out. On this occasion, they were led by Prince Charles himself, who was dressed like his quadrille in white and red and who is depicted in the canvas at the forefront of the group that has turned to his right. In the background on the opposite side is the Infante Don Gabriel in blue and white. The quadrille of the Infante Don Luis, in green and white, and that of Duke of Medina Sidonia, in gold and white, are arranged in front of the royal box. In this space, which was created for that purpose over the palace gallery and covered with tapestries depicting mythological or genre themes in the style of Teniers and flower vases, Charles III, King of Spain, and Maria Luisa de Parma are clearly distinguishable, accompanied by Infantes Antonio Pascual and Francisco Javier and by Infanta María Josefa. Not only are they faithfully depicted despite their size, but the area in which they are portrayed is more illuminated than the adjacent areas, where other sophisticatedly dressed courtly figures are grouped.
The ‘elegant spectacle’, as described by the English traveller Joseph Townsend – who saw it in 1787 – constituted the most crowded day of the royal site of the court at the time, drawing several thousand people from all social classes. Paret reflects this by integrating a representation of members of the other social strata along with the aforementioned distinguished entourage. These other social classes range from the military, through the Walloon Guards; the ecclesiastical, through the figures of various friars and abbots; and finally the common people, in which refined dandies and dandizettes dressed in the traditional black overskirt and modern white mantillas, majos with Andalusian monteras or hairnets and still wrapped in their capes, and villagers can be identified. All of them are accurately captured, thus displaying a complete range of expressions and attitudes. They are depicted with extraordinary meticulousness, which is visible even in the smallest details, such as the diverse hairstyles or the jewellery and accessories worn by the different figures.
The artist reserves the foreground of the composition for these common people and depicts them as protagonists in several scenes outside the festivities that give the work greater variety and liveliness. Thus, the lower left corner groups together a motley of characters, amongst whom some village women can be distinguished riding their donkeys whilst protecting themselves from the sun with parasols. A young man with his guitar can also be seen, as well as some sheets yet to be identified but which, judging by their drawings and inscription, could be related to the popular romance ‘The virtues of the night’, of which different versions exist from at least the mid-17th century, with the common element of the list of events and situations that take place at that time of day. In a version that circulated around the time this painting was made, the main emphasis is charity events, which, beyond portraying a royal scene, could be interpreted as an allegory of the reign of Charles III, King of Spain, who brought prosperity and safety to his people.
In order to achieve this generalised happiness, activities and events such as the one depicted in this painting were favoured. All social classes could enjoy these events. However, they did not mix with each other, as is shown in the central part of the canvas where, despite the fact that no altercation can be seen, given that a young woman drinks and continues to breastfeed her child undisturbed, two armed soldiers violently burst in. They are probably trying to prevent the group from approaching the other side, which seems to have been intended for the arrival of people of higher social standing, as evidenced by their rich attire and the elegant carriages arranged in this area. Even so, several majos and a couple of villagers on a donkey have succeeded in making their way through. In the background of the composition, behind the musicians and almost blending into the leafy landscape, there are people and floats of various kinds, stalls of vendors and even a boat; a reminder of the river entertainments that also took place at the Royal Site of Aranjuez.
Thus, considering that the Collection of attire from Spain by Juan de la Cruz (1777–88) had not yet been published, nor had the tapestry cartoons intended for the royal residencies included the representation of the contemporary people, Paret can be considered the first to make them protagonists.
Three preparatory drawings have been linked to this composition, revealing a meticuous creative process in which the possible influence of works such as Philip IV hunting Wild Boar by Velázquez (1632–37; National Gallery in London) or View of Zaragoza by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (1647; Museo del Prado) cannot be overlooked, especially since at the time said paintings were hung in the corridor to infante Don Luis’ room in the Royal Palace in Madrid.
As Delgado records in a letter to the Board of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando dated 16 June 1771, the marquess of Santa Cruz commented that ‘in Aranjuez was Luis Paret, who had painted the couples of the previous year with great accuracy’. Significant evidence of the painting’s success occurred when the Infante Don Gabriel commissioned the artist to make a copy of it.
Albarrán, Virginia, 'Luis Paret y Alcázar. Las parejas reales' En:. Paret, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2022, p.100-104 nº 15
