Lot Essay
The Infanta Maria Ludovica de Borbón (1744-1799) was born in Naples, the eldest child of the King of Naples, later King Charles III of Spain, and Maria Amalia of Saxony. She married, in 1765, Archduke Peter Leopold of Austria, son of Empress Maria Theresa. He had succeeded his father as Grand Duke of Tuscany and later succeeded his brother as Emperor Leopold II of Austria.
Mengs painted the Infanta Maria Ludovica several times. The first such occasion was during his first stay in Madrid between 1761 and 1768; this picture now hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. 1.644). The next was during a stay in Florence in 1770, where he painted pendant portraits of the grand-ducal couple, now in the Museo del Prado (X. Tusell, catalogue of the exhibition, Anton Rafael Mengs, Museo del Prado, Madrid, June-July 1980, p. 48, no. 16, illustrated p. 49). A later bust-length study is in the collection of the Duque de Alba, Madrid. A fourth, and certainly the closest to the present lot in terms of handling, composition and size, is that which was recorded in 1929 in the collection of the Infante Don Alfonso de Borbón (see the catalogue of the exhibition, Antonio Rafael Mengs, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1929, p. 32, no. 61, illustrated).
Mengs painted the Infanta Maria Ludovica several times. The first such occasion was during his first stay in Madrid between 1761 and 1768; this picture now hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. 1.644). The next was during a stay in Florence in 1770, where he painted pendant portraits of the grand-ducal couple, now in the Museo del Prado (X. Tusell, catalogue of the exhibition, Anton Rafael Mengs, Museo del Prado, Madrid, June-July 1980, p. 48, no. 16, illustrated p. 49). A later bust-length study is in the collection of the Duque de Alba, Madrid. A fourth, and certainly the closest to the present lot in terms of handling, composition and size, is that which was recorded in 1929 in the collection of the Infante Don Alfonso de Borbón (see the catalogue of the exhibition, Antonio Rafael Mengs, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1929, p. 32, no. 61, illustrated).