''Florinda'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by German painter and lithographer

Franz Xaver Winterhalter Franz Xaver Winterhalter (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German painter and lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty and upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashionable court ...

. It was completed in 1853 and is now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York, where it is not on display.''The Letters of William Cullen Bryant: 1809–1836'' by William Cullen Bryant, The picture depicts the legend of King Roderic of Spain spying on

Florinda la Cava Florinda la Cava, or simply La Cava, is a character who, according to legend, played a central role in the downfall of the Visigothic kingdom in Spain in 711. Although she was treated as historical in Spain for centuries, there is no evidence for ...

and the other palace girls while they bathe in a garden in Toledo, in order to decide the fairest. After Roderic selects and courts Florinda, her father takes revenge by inviting the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

to invade and conquer Spain. The painting is a replica of the one displayed at

Osborne House Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in ...

which

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

gave as a birthday present to Prince Albert in 1852.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Florinda (Winterhalter) 1853 paintings Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Paintings by Franz Xaver Winterhalter History paintings