Portrait of María Luisa de Borbón y Vallabriga

Maria Luisa was born into an awkward corner of the Spanish royal family. Her father, the Infante Don Luis, was a brother of the king, but he married a commoner and was pushed out of court, his children raised well away from the throne. Goya had known the family since the 1780s, when he stayed with them and painted them at home. Here, in 1800, he paints the grown daughter in the high-waisted white dress and feathered hair of the newest French fashion. Across her chest runs the sash of the Order of Maria Luisa, and on her wrist sits a small bracelet set with a miniature portrait, thought to show her mother. It was the same year Goya was assembling the whole royal clan for his great group portrait of Charles IV's family. Her sister was married to Godoy, then the most powerful man in Spain.