''The Countess of Chinchon'' ( es, Condesa de Chinchón) was painted by

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

about 1800. It is held in the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. The painting depicts

María Teresa de Borbón, 15th Countess of Chinchón María Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga, 15th Countess of Chinchón (María Teresa Carolina; 6 March 1779some say 26 January 1780 – 23 November 1828), was a Spanish noblewoman and grandee. She was a patrilineal granddaughter of Philip V of Spain ...

, who had been encouraged by Queen

Maria Luisa of Parma Maria Luisa of Parma (Luisa Maria Teresa Anna; 9 December 1751 – 2 January 1819) was, by marriage to King Charles IV of Spain, Queen of Spain from 1788 to 1808 leading up to the Peninsular War. Her relationship with Manuel Godoy and influence o ...

and by opportunism to marry

Manuel de Godoy Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó (12 May 17674 October 1851) was First Secretary of State of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He received many t ...

, the Prime Minister, in a

marriage of convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...

. It does not depict the more famous Countess of Chinchón who became the namesake of the

cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...

genus of trees and shrubs responsible for early modern

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg cr ...

production.

Countess of Chinchón

Maria Teresa of Bourbon y Vallabriga, Countess of Chinchón and Marquis de Boadilla del Monte (1780–1828) was the eldest daughter of the morganatic marriage of Infant Louis Antoni Bourbon and Maria Teresa de Vallabriga y Rozas, daughter of a cavalry officer. The result of this union was the expulsion of the infant from the court by King Charles III, his brother. Infant died when Maria Teresa was only 5 years old, she was then taken from her mother and brought up together with her younger sister in a monastery in Toledo. She left the monastery at the age of 17, when the new royal couple Charles IV and Maria Ludwika of Bourbon-Parma decided to marry her with the most influential man at court, the royal favorite Manuel Godoy. Thanks to the Queen's protection, Godoy's career progressed rapidly from a colonel in the royal guard to the first minister who exercised effective power in the state. The Queen, who may have had an affair with Godoy, wanted to distract the favorite from his longtime mistress Pepita Tudó. For Godoy, marrying the king's cousin was a distinction and social promotion, as he officially became a member of the royal family. The Countess regained numerous privileges lost as a result of her father's exile, such as the use of the name and coat of arms of the Bourbons. She became the most important lady in the country after Queen Maria Ludwika.

The circumstances of the uprising

The countess' parents were patrons of the arts; they gathered many talented painters, writers and musicians. For Goya they were the first patrons, their recognition of the painter's work significantly influenced his career as a portrait painter. In the years 1783–1784, as a guest of the infanta at Arenas de San Pedro, Goya performed many works for them; incl. collective portrait The family of Infant don Luis, in which the countess is a girl watching the painter's work. Goya also portrayed a few-year-old Maria Teresa in a stylish little lady outfit and probably also on the occasion of her wedding.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Countess of Chinchon Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado 1800s paintings Portraits by Francisco Goya

Countess of Chinchón

The circumstances of the uprising

See also

References

External links