Study for the portrait of Josefa Tudó with her<br />sons Manuel and Luis Godoy
Ca. 1812. Pencil, Silverpoint on laid paper.Not on display
This remarkable drawing, in which the outlines have visibly been reworked prior to transferring the silhouettes to canvas, is the only surviving preparatory study for the portrait of Josefa Tudó, 1st Countess of Castillo Fiel – the lover and later the wife of Charles IV’s Minister, Manuel Godoy – with her sons Manuel and Luis (P008246), portrayed as Aphrodite, Eros and Anteros, beside a classical bust of the Minister himself. The iconography, of a private nature, elevates family ties to mythological proportions and reflects a complex family situation.
