Born in 1727, Don Luis, son of Philip V and Isabella Farnese, was destined for an ecclesiastical career since childhood and is already shown here as a cardinal. He renounced his vows in 1754 and in 1776 his brother Charles III arranged his marriage to the young María Teresa de Vallabriga, a member of the minor nobility, with the aim of ending his numerous scandalous affairs. He was also str
El retrato de Felipe V, primer Borbón que ocupó el trono español, muestra al monarca en la última fase de su vida -comenzó a reinar en 1700 y falleció en 1746-. Aparece caracterizado con armadura completa, sosteniendo en la mano izquierda el bastón de mando que, a manera de cetro, lleva grabados los castillos y leones heráldicos así como la flor de lis de la dinastía Borbón. Apoya en la cadera la
Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, sleeps outdoors, leaning on a boulder and wrapped in a leopard skin. She wears her symbol, the crescent moon, on her head and her clothes are of classical inspiration. She is accompanied by her bow and arrows and a hunting horn. Van Loo painted numerous mythological scenes, generally characterized by a certain degree of eroticism. This was in keeping with the
Felipe (1720-1765), the son of Philip V and Isabella Farnese, married Louise Elisabeth of France, daughter of Louis XV, in 1739. With the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) he received the family duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. This portrait seems to be a preparatory study for Van Loo`s The Family of Philip V, also in the Prado.
The King is depicted with his second wife, Isabella Farnese, forming the centre of the composition and surrounded by their descendents, the future 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. In this family and dynastic gathering, in which the various members are presented to thei