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Title:María Luisa of Parma (1751–1819), Queen of Spain
Artist:Copy after Goya (Spanish, after 1800)
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:43 1/2 x 33 1/2 in. (110.5 x 85.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Object Number:29.100.11
Ángel de Saavedra, Duque de Rivas, Madrid; [Théodore Duret, Paris; sold to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (by 1902– his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929)
New York. M. Knoedler & Co. "Loan Exhibition of Paintings by El Greco and Goya," April 2–20, 1912, no. 12 (as by Goya).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 62 (as by Goya) [2nd ed., 1958, no. 191].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Francisco Goya: His Paintings, Drawings and Prints," January 27–March 8, 1936, no. 5.
Winter Park, Fla. Morse Gallery of Art. "Spanish Art of Six Centuries," January 12–31, 1946, not in catalogue.
Lexington, Va. Washington and Lee University. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Loan Exhibit," October 30, 1950–January 15, 1951, no. 5 (as by Goya).
Athens, Ga. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia. February 15–April 5, 1951, no catalogue?
Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. "Masterpieces of Spanish Painting," October 8–November 14, 1954, no. 13.
Delaware, Ohio. Ohio Wesleyen University. "Masterpieces of Spanish Painting," November 17–24, 1954, no catalogue.
Birmingham, Ala. Birmingham Museum of Art. "Goya," January 26–February 18, 1955, no catalogue?
Winnipeg Art Gallery. "El Greco to Goya," April 16–May 15, 1955, no. 23.
Westport, Conn. Westport Community Art Association. "Spanish Painting," November 5–18, 1955, no catalogue.
New York. American Federation of Arts. "Romantic Art, 1750–1900," October 1965–October 1966, no. 14.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A299.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 12–December 31, 1995, unnumbered cat.
Paul Lafond. Goya. Paris, [1902], p. 119, no. 26, lists it as a portrait of Queen Maria Luisa, formerly in the collections of the duc de Rivas and Th. Duret.
Valerian von Loga. Francisco de Goya. Berlin, 1903, p. 188, no. 123 [2nd ed., 1921].
Albert F. Calvert. Goya, an Account of His Life and Works. London, 1908, p. 125, no. 30.
Hugh Stokes. Francisco Goya: A Study of the Work and Personality of the Eighteenth Century Spanish Painter and Satirist. London, 1914, p. 327, no. 34, lists it as by Goya.
A. de Beruete y Moret. Goya: Pintor de retratos. Madrid, 1916, p. 169, under no. 30 [English ed., 1922, p. 203 under no. 32], notes that he does not know this picture, but relates it to a portrait of the Queen in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples.
August L. Mayer. Francisco de Goya. Munich, 1923, p. 184, no. 149 [English ed., 1924, p. 147, no. 149], dates it about 1790–92.
Tomás G. Larraya. Goya: Su vida, sus obras. Barcelona, 1928, p. 188.
R. Gómez de la Serna. Goya. Madrid, [1928], p. 263.
"The H. O. Havemeyer Collection." Parnassus 2 (March 1930), p. 4, considers it by Goya.
The H.O. Havemeyer Collection: A Catalogue of the Temporary Exhibition. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1930, p. 11, no. 62, lists it as by Goya, from about 1790 or 1792.
Frank Jewett Mather Jr. "The Havemeyer Pictures." The Arts 16 (March 1930), p. 467, ill. p. 454, notes that "like all the smaller portraits of the Queen it is presumably made at second hand"; comments on its similarity to the portrait in Naples.
H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 46–47, ill.
Francisco Goya: His Paintings, Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1936, unpaginated, no. 5, ill., date it about 1790–92 and call it a replica by Goya of the full-length portrait in the Palacio Real.
August L. Mayer. Letter to Harry B. Wehle. July 29, 1937, calls it a partial copy, perhaps by Agustín Esteve, after Goya's original in the Palacio Real.
Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, pp. 253–54, ill., calls it a copy, possibly by Esteve, after Goya's full-length portrait in the Palacio Real; dates the original no earlier than 1792 since the Queen wears the badge of the Order of María Luisa, founded in that year; mentions four other variants in the collections of the Marqués de la Casa Torres, Madrid [now Collection Ibercaja, Saragossa], the Marqués de la Vega Inclán, Madrid, the gallery at San Sebastián [Prado, Madrid], and private collection, Cadiz.
Martin S. Soria. "Agustín Esteve and Goya." Art Bulletin 25 (September 1943), p. 240 n. 9, notes that Goya had so many commissions for official portraits of Charles IV and María Luisa that many replicas were executed by Esteve; doubts this picture is by Esteve and notes that it "seems to be by another hand".
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 44.
El Greco to Goya. Exh. cat., Winnipeg Art Gallery. Winnipeg, 1955, p. 24, no. 23, states that it seems to be a copy, perhaps by Esteve, after Goya's full-length portrait, of which there are versions in the Palacio Real and the palace of Capodimonte [Museo Nacional de Capodimonte].
Valentín de Sambricio. "Los retratos de Carlos IV y María Luisa, por Goya." Archivo español de arte 30 (April-June 1957), pp. 105, 112, pl. 7b, attributes it to Esteve, citing its meticulous brushwork; remarks that this may be the painting Esteve executed to send to the Duke of Parma.
Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño. La pintura española fuera de España. Madrid, 1958, p. 184, no. 1150, considers it a copy, possibly by Esteve.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The H. O. Havemeyer Collection. 2nd ed. New York, 1958, pp. 34–35, no. 191, calls it a copy after Goya, possibly by Esteve.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, pp. 163–66, observes that "we really bought it because the costume was so wonderfully painted"; notes that it was purchased from Théodore Duret.
Pierre Gassier and Juliet Wilson. Vie et oeuvre de Francisco Goya. Ed. François Lachenal. Fribourg, Switzerland, 1970, p. 166, under no. 781 [English ed., 1971], list it as an anonymous copy after the Palacio Real portrait.
José Camón Aznar. Fran. de Goya. Vol. 3, Saragossa, 1981, p. 123, lists it among works by Goya.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 132, 163–66, 323 n. 181, 326 n. 224.
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 267.
Gary Tinterow inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 14, 17, states that Théodore Duret was a "dishonest dealer, who surely could not have been deceived by this painting as he deceived Mrs. Havemeyer".
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 345, no. A299, ill.
José Luis Morales y Marín. Goya: Catálogo de la pintura. Saragossa, 1994, p. 263, under no. 305 [English ed., 1997], lists it among anonymous copies of the Palacio Real portrait.
Susan Alyson Stein inGoya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1995, pp. 48, 61 n. 27, p. 68, figs. 30, 35 (installation view), considers it an inferior, later copy and states that it was recognized as such by 1940.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 166, ill.
José Manuel Arnaiz. "Nuevas andanzas de Goya: Falsos y auténticos en el Metropolitan." Galería antiquaria no. 136 (February 1996), p. 42, observes that at first glance it appears to be a late 19th- or early 20th-century picture.
Jeannine Baticle. "Goya au Metropolitan." Connaissance des arts no. 527 (April 1996), p. 63.
Juliet Wilson-Bareau. "Goya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Burlington Magazine 138 (February 1996), pp. 101–2.
Priscilla E. Muller. "Discerning Goya." Metropolitan Museum Journal 31 (1996), p. 179, fig. 8.
María Luisa (1751–1819), the daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma, and Louise Isabelle of France, was married in 1765 to Charles IV, King of Spain. In this painting María Luisa wears, at her waist, the badge of the Order of María Luisa, founded by Charles IV in 1792. She also wears the badge of the Order of the Starry Cross, founded by Eleonora Gonzaga in 1668.
This picture is based on Goya's full-length Queen María Luisa in Court Dress of 1800 in the Palacio Real, Madrid, and has long been recognized as an inferior, later copy. The original and its pendant, Charles IV in the Uniform of the Royal Guard, also in the Palacio Real, are mentioned in a letter dated June 9, 1800, from the Queen to Godoy (see Gassier and Wilson 1970, no. 781).
A reduced copy, possibly by Goya, is in the Mc-Crohon collection, Madrid; a workshop copy, with the possible intervention of Goya himself, is in a private collection in Madrid; a full-length copy by Agustín Esteve (1753–about 1819) is in the Museo Nacional de Capodimonte, Naples; a three-quarter length copy by Vicente López is in the Palacio Real; an anonymous three-quarter length copy is in the Prado, Madrid; and a three-quarter length variation, previously called a copy but now attributed to Goya, is in the Ibercaja collection, Saragossa (formerly Marqués de Casa Torres collection, Madrid). For a discussion of these copies, see Morales y Marín 1994, cat. no. 305.
Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (Spanish, Cuenca ca. 1612–1667 Madrid)
ca. 1636 or later
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