.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The central section of the present lot is a finely modelled double portrait in wax of King Philip V of Spain (d. 1746) and his first wife Maria Luisa of Savoy (d. 1714). Grandson of King Louis XIV, Philip’s accession to the throne threatened to unify France and Spain under one monarch and helped provoke the fourteen year War of Spanish Succession.
The inscription can probably be translated as ‘a union of gems’ which suggests the present lot was specially commissioned to mark the occasion of the wedding. Their marriage, which took place on 2 November 1701 when she was only 13 years old, was said to be very successful on both personal and political levels. Philip V adored his wife, and famously insisted on sharing her bedroom throughout the night, against traditional custom. Dynamic, hardworking and politically savvy, Maria Luisa became Regent of Spain from 1702 to 1703 when her husband left to fight in Naples. She became admired and respected throughout Madrid for her leadership and efficiency. Maria Luisa gave birth to four children, only two of whom survived infancy, and she died from tuberculosis on 14 February 1714.
Maria Luisa was wed to Philip V by proxy in September 1701 before she arrived in Spain. On her way, she stopped in Nice where she was greeted by Pope Clement XI who gave her the Golden Rose as a gift. On this wax portrait, she is represented holding a small flower, perhaps a direct reference to this papal gift. An engraving from 1713 illustrates the royal couple standing under a canopy supported by cupids closely similar to the one on this unique wax double portrait.
José Calleja, was a disciple of Eugenio Gutiérrez de Torices (d.1709), and a number of his works, comparable to the present relief in their fine detail, are in the Encarnación Convent Museum in Madrid.
We would like to thank Mercedes Simal for her assistance with this note.
The inscription can probably be translated as ‘a union of gems’ which suggests the present lot was specially commissioned to mark the occasion of the wedding. Their marriage, which took place on 2 November 1701 when she was only 13 years old, was said to be very successful on both personal and political levels. Philip V adored his wife, and famously insisted on sharing her bedroom throughout the night, against traditional custom. Dynamic, hardworking and politically savvy, Maria Luisa became Regent of Spain from 1702 to 1703 when her husband left to fight in Naples. She became admired and respected throughout Madrid for her leadership and efficiency. Maria Luisa gave birth to four children, only two of whom survived infancy, and she died from tuberculosis on 14 February 1714.
Maria Luisa was wed to Philip V by proxy in September 1701 before she arrived in Spain. On her way, she stopped in Nice where she was greeted by Pope Clement XI who gave her the Golden Rose as a gift. On this wax portrait, she is represented holding a small flower, perhaps a direct reference to this papal gift. An engraving from 1713 illustrates the royal couple standing under a canopy supported by cupids closely similar to the one on this unique wax double portrait.
José Calleja, was a disciple of Eugenio Gutiérrez de Torices (d.1709), and a number of his works, comparable to the present relief in their fine detail, are in the Encarnación Convent Museum in Madrid.
We would like to thank Mercedes Simal for her assistance with this note.