Marquis de Llano, Spanish Envoy in Vienna

When Grassi painted him in Vienna in 1790, José Agustín de Llano had been serving the Spanish crown for more than half a century. He had started in 1738 as a young page under his uncle, a secretary of state, later ran the government of the Duchy of Parma for a year, and was made a marquis by King Charles III in 1772. By the late 1780s he was Spain's envoy at the imperial court. The Belvedere points out that none of that official splendour is on show here. He wears a blue-green dressing gown trimmed with fur, a loose white scarf and no wig, his own thin hair brushed back. Only the letter in his hand hints at his work. He was about 67 at the time, and he died in Vienna in 1794, still in his post.