La regina Maria Luisa in abito con guardinfante

Charles the Fourth came to the Spanish throne in 1788, and Goya, newly a court painter, was set to portray the new king and his queen. This is María Luisa of Parma in full court dress, her skirt spread wide over a tontillo, the hooped frame that held Spanish royal costume out to either side long after the rest of Europe had abandoned it. She stands stiff and grand, exactly as protocol asked. It is worth setting beside what came later. Around 1800 Goya painted the whole royal family together, and there the same queen is plain and hard-faced, with none of this formality softened for her.