(Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
Portrait of Cardinal Luis María de Borbón y Vallabriga (1777–1823), bust-length,
oil on canvas, 59 x 43 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly collection of Carlota Luisa Manuela de Godoy y Borbón, Segunda Duquesa de Sueca, Segunda Marquesa de Boadilla del Monte, niece of Cardinal Borbon, 1835, Florence;
possibly by descent to her son Adolfo Rúspoli y Godoy (1822–1914), Segundo Duque de la Alcudia, 1886, Madrid;
possibly art market Paris, 1914;
Russian collection, possibly collection of Agathon Carl Theodor Fabergé (1876–1951), Switzerland, 1921;
H. Rubin, Berlin;
with Heinemann, Munich, 27 February 1935 (as Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, inv. no. 19196, together with the Portrait of Maria Antonia by Goya, inv. no. 19197);
with D. Harker, London, 2 October 1935;
sold to Gallery Hansen AG, Luzern, 14 September 1936;
returned to Heinemann, Munich, 14 November 1936 and exchanged for a painting by Arnold Böcklin (inv. no. 19429);
Collection of Conte Alessandro Contini Bonacossi (1878–1955),
Florence, 1936;
Private European collection

Literature:
A. L. Mayer, Francisco de Goya, Munich 1923, p. 185, no. 178 (as Francisco de Goya, study for the Prado painting);
XXVI Biennale di Venezia: catalogo, Venice 1952, p. 353, cat. no. 12 (as Francisco de Goya y Lucientes);

The present painting relates to a portrait of Cardinal Luis María de Borbón y Vallabriga by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes in the Museu de Arte de São Paolo, Brasil (inv. no. MASP.00173) and another in the Prado, Madrid (inv. no. P000738). The present portrait of Cardinal Luis María de Borbón is thought to have been painted in Goya’s workshop.

Cardinal Luis María de Borbón was the son of the Infante Luis Antonio de Borbón and María Teresa de Vallabriga and grandson of King Philip V of Spain. In 1799 he was appointed Archbishop of Seville, in 1800 Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain and Cardinal. With his commitment to the abolition of the Inquisition he played a significant role in liberal Spanish politics between 1820 and 1823. His parents’ morganatic marriage forced the family to live away from the court in the palace of La Mosquera di Arenas de San Pedro in southeastern Madrid. This secluded life allowed the Cardinal’s father to pursue his passion for paintings and music without needing to adhere to the strict etiquette of the Spanish court, gathering a small court around him, including numerous artists.

In 1783, Goya received his first royal commission from the Infante and came to La Mosquera to paint his portrait, and those of his family and friends. Even after the Infante’s death two years later, the artist remained in contact with his two older children, María Teresa de Godoy and Luís Maria, whom Goya portrayed four times: at the age of six (Museo de Zaragoza, depósito de la Fundación Plaza, inv. no. 54278), in a family portrait (Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Parma; see X. Bray [ed.], Goya. The Portraits, London 2015, cat. no. 8, p. 19) and twice after his appointment as Cardinal (Museu de Arte de São Paolo, inv. no. MASP.000173; Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. no. P000738).

The present bust-length version may have been made after a possible, now lost, head study by Goya or alternatively after the full-length work, now in Brasil, when it was still with the Ruspoli y Godoy family in Italy. The sitter wears the traditional scarlet robe with the insignia of the Order of Charles III, the Neapolitan Order of Saint Ferdinand of Merit and the Order of Saint Januarius, granted to him in 1793, 1800 and 1802 respectively.

An X-ray reveals an underlying three-quarter-length female figure. It has been suggested that the sitter of the underlying portrait may be the Cardinal’s younger sister María Luisa Fernanda de Borbón y Vallabriga. The figure is reminiscent of female portraits by Agustín Esteve y Marques, who became Goya’s assistant in the early 1780s. In his faithful replicas of Goya’s royal portraits, Esteve depicted his sitters in a more conservative and traditional manner, making him the preferred painter of Queen María Luisa and sealing his success as a society portraitist.