The Infanta María Josefa of Bourbon
1763. Pastel on paper.Not on display
The Infanta faces the viewer with a melancholy expression in this half-length work. Her dress recalls 17th-century clothing, with a lace collar and cut sleeves under brocade and ermine robes. Her jewelry consists of a sumptuous pearl necklace, red-stone earrings and a small pearl adornment on her powdered hairdo. She holds a small dog in her hands.
The sitter’s fine features and aquiline nose match those of María Josefa of bourbon, born to Charles III and María Amalia of Saxony in Gaeta in 1744. A spinster, she died in Madrid in 1801. Here, she appears to be about nineteen or twenty years old, which coincides with the date of this series of pastels from around 1763. Her oil portrait by Mengs at the Casita del Príncipe dates from around the same year.
Along with D7428, D7438, D7420, D7421 and D7422, this must be one of the portraits attributed to one of Tiepolo’s sons, mentioned in the 1794 Inventory of the New Palace in Madrid (Text drawn from Mena Marqués, M.: Catálogo de dibujos. VII. Dibujos italianos del siglo XVIII y del siglo XIX, Museo del Prado, 1990, p. 147).
