Three Flower Girls Selling Carnations in Montera Street
1779. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
This is one of a series of tapestry cartoons commissioned from José del Castillo in April 1777 for the decoration of the boudoir of the Princess of Asturias, the future Queen Maria Luisa, in the Palacio del Pardo. Castillo delivered the cartoon to the Royal Tapestry Factory on 22 July 1779 and described it in his invoice as "the descent from the Calle de la Montera to the Puerta del Sol, from where a piece of the Casa de Correos is revealed; and a lady in a basquiña and mantilla accompanied by a majo is adjusting some carnations presented to her by a kneeling bouquet girl. Another woman seated on the ground is offering her a pot of everlastings (Helichrysum), sitting beside her, a pot of basil and a basket holding a variety of flowers, and on top of it a board, placed with a pot of roses. Another woman is pouring an apron of flowers on the ground, and a boy with a string carries a pot of carnations on his shoulder, and in the distance another figure can be seen selling barley water and two women with mantillas". The Museo del Prado has other examples from the same series (P3933, P3934, P3935, P3936, P3534, P3311, P3312, P3313, P3314).
