Portrait de l'infant Louis d'Espagne

Don Luis was the younger brother of the Spanish king Charles III, and by 1783 he was living far from the court. He had given up a cardinal's career, then married a woman beneath his rank, and for that the king pushed him out to a country estate at Arenas de San Pedro. Goya was invited there in the summer of 1783 and plainly enjoyed himself, since his letters describe going out hunting with the prince. This crisp profile bust, showing Don Luis against a dark ground with the sashes of two royal orders across his chest, was a study Goya made toward a larger family group. He worked on it, by his own note, between nine and noon on a September morning that year.