The Family of Philip V
1743. Oil on canvas.Room 039
The King is depicted with his second wife, Isabella Farnese, at the centre of the composition. He appears surrounded by his descendants, soon-to-be Kings Ferdinand VI –son of the King’s first marriage– and Charles III, both with their respective wives, and all the other members of the royal family alive at that date. This portrait, at once intimate family and dynastic gathering, betrays curious and contrasting attitudes among the sitters: first of all, the exhaustion of Philip V against the dominant and authoritarian grandiosity of his second wife, Isabella Farnese. Secondly, the presence of the Prince of Asturias, soon-to-be King Ferdinand VI, whose presence, intended as elegant, ends as merely gauche. Thirdly, the somewhat oblivious confidence of Charles III, who at the time was King of Naples, the gentleness of his wife, and the grace of the girls in the foreground. Fourthly, the frieze of the faces of the Spanish princes who were destined to play a crucial role in the troubled years to follow. And so on through the depiction of a set of different characters. The tone is courtly and refined, without compromising the psychological depth and despite the heavy compositional scheme, with a monumental and solemn atmosphere. Nevertheless, this painting is a product of the drama of the historical moment in which it was executed, seeking to represent the majesty of royal persons through their own attributes, the sense of glorious dynastic continuity, and the splendour that surrounds their power, expressed in the enveloping sumptuousness.
The artist imagined a palace room that opens onto a garden in the Roman Baroque style. The Queen, who appears in the centre of the room, ‘was also the Queen of the Court and of the Government’ (Sánchez Cantón, 1926, p. 44). The composition revolves around the queen with all her direct descendants grouped around her. However, the Princess of Brazil appears next to Bárbara of Portugal, perhaps because she had distanced herself from the Court and the fact that Portugal was now her homeland. The work is a valuable genealogical document and its composition is reminiscent of the arrangement typical to some Dutch conversation paintings, to which the French aesthetic has been no stranger, (Praz, 1971, pp. 64–6), in which the royal family is presented almost in the manner of a ‘public institution’.
This work is both a summary and a starting point within Louis-Michel Van Loo´s artistic development, with many of his portraits produced before and after 1743, based on this masterpiece. Some of them were preparatory studies or repetitions of already completed effigies. This shows how much care and interest he invested in the project and in the making of the work, likely carried out in a slow and progressive manner, in accordance with the events that occurred at the time related to the royal patrons and their relatives. The sketch located in the Museum of Versailles (MV 4380, oil on canvas, 77.5 x 102.5 cm) and the drawing in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando [Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando] (D-2390, pencil and black and sepia ink on paper, 865 x 1110 mm) are reminiscent of this and previous works, as well as various of his paintings, some individual portraits of the different characters, some of which are kept in the Museo del Prado while others are in the collections at Patrimonio Nacional [National Artistic Heritage], the rest being in private galleries. These above-mentioned works were executed based on the achieved results, suitably transformed in accordance with their importance in the overall composition.
Within the evolution of the French school, this large canvas marks the apotheosis of the collective portrait, with a much more developed conception and a more splendid scale than the previous known paintings by Rigaud, de Troy, Vivien, Mignard or Largillière. It is a compendium of previous treatments, the most important milestones of which include the Family of Louis XIV by Nocret (Versailles), that of the Grand Dauphin by Mignard (Versailles), that of Louis XIV by Largillière (London, Wallace Collection), that of Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria, by Vivien (Munich), the family portraits by De Troy or Tournières, without forgetting the famous paintings of the Paris Town Hall, with lavishly-attired figures set in a spectacular and grandiose frame.
The king is wearing the sash and badge of the French Order of the Holy Spirit and the Golden Fleece, as is Ferdinand, the Prince of Asturias. Nevertheless, due to his posture, not all of his regalia is visible in the picture. On the other side of the painting, Charles, who was King of Naples at the time, also wears the same orders. However, in the foreground he can be seen to wear the red sash and the badge of the Order of Saint Januarius, which he created after conquering his kingdom (1738). He only granted it to his younger brothers, Philip and Louis-Antoine, who too are wearing sashes, although the French band can be seen on top and below it the Neapolitan one, as well as the Golden Fleece. On Louis-Antoine’s suit the badge of the Holy Spirit is visible (Project for the cataloguing of heraldic and phaleristic elements by Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía [Madrid Royal Academy of Heraldic and Genealogy]).
Baticle, J., Pita Andrade, J. M., El arte europeo en la corte de España durante el siglo XVIII, Madrid, Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General del Patrimonio Artístico y Museos, 1980, p.154
