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Portrait of Maria Soledad Rocha Fernandez de la Peña, Marquesa de Caballero, 1807

Francisco Goya

Exhibited by Robilant+Voena

Material Oil on canvas

Dimensions 104.5 x 83.5 cm

Price Price on request

Status Not Vetted

About the Work

This masterful portrait depicts María Soledad Rocha Fernández de la Peña (1774-1809), lady-in-waiting to Queen María Luisa de Parma, who was also portrayed by Goya. The portrait was paired with that of her husband, José Antonio Caballero, who had been Minister of Grace and Justice to King Charles IV since 1798. The pendant is now in the Huntingdon, California. In 1807, Caballero inherited the title of Marqués from his uncle, at which point he probably commissioned Goya to undertake these portraits of him and his wife.

Here, the sitter wears a short-sleeved empire-style dress popularised by Queen María Luisa, with lace embellishments on the sleeves and neckline, executed with rapid flourishes of the brush, that add to the elegance of the costume. She sports a prominent necklace with a cameo, likely depicting the Queen, and in her right hand she holds a card with an inscription that confirms the sitter’s and painter’s names, and the date of execution.

Caballero and María Soledad had married in 1800, and the latter died prematurely on 29 December 1809, only two years after this portrait was made. The present work and its pair must have been separated shortly thereafter. Caballero remarried just eleven weeks later and the three children that Maria Soledad bore him all died in childhood. Neither Caballero’s three surviving daughters from earlier marriages nor his fourth wife would have had any sentimental connection to the portrait, and indeed when it resurfaced in 1917 it was owned by the widow of a direct descendant of Maria Soledad’s brother.

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Provenance

The sitter, Maria Soledad de la Rocha Fernandez de la Peña (1774–1809),
Her brother, Joaquin de la Rocha y Fernandez de la Peña (1777–?),
His daughter, Doña Juliana de la Rocha y Laguna,
Her daughter, Doña Ramona Dolores de Barrantes y de la Rocha (1834–1863),
Her son, Ramon Montero de Espinosa y Barrantes (1859–1901),
His wife, Leonor de Mendoza y Diaz de Junguitu (Viuda de Montero de Espinosa) (?–1929),
Her son, Fernando Montero de Espinosa y Mendoza (1891–1959),
with Tomas Harris, 1933 (Published in The Art News 29 April 1933),
with Apolinar Sanchez Villalva, until 6 January 1936 when sold to,
Count of Barbate, Serafin Romeu y Fages (c. 1880–1937),
His wife, Maria Sebastiana Limon Caballero. (? – 1967),
Her great-niece, Rosario Martinez de Campos Rodriguez de la Boeta (? – 2022)
By descent to the current owners, since 2022.

Literature

A. de Beruete y Moret, Goya, composiciones y figuras, Madrid, 1917, p. 154 (as the prime version).

A. Mayer, Francisco de Goya, Munich, 1923, p. 188, no. 218 (as the prime version).
Catálogo ilustrado de la exposición de pinturas de Goya: celebrada para conmemorar el primer centenario de la muerte del artista, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, 1928, p. 26, no. 22, illustrated pl. 2.

X. Desparmet-Fitzgerald, L´Oevre Peint par Goya, Catalogue raisonée, 1928-50, vol II, p. 169, no. 45 (as a replica).

'Goya Portrait on Our Cover Was Shown in Prado', The Art News, 29 April 1933, p. 4, illustrated on cover.

P. Gassier and J. Wilson, Vie et Oeuvre de Francisco de Goya, Fribourg, 1970, p. 274, no. 860 (as a replica).

J. Gudiol, Goya, 1971, vol I, p. 340, no. 543; vol. IV, figure 879 (as the prime version).

R. De Angelis, La obra pictórica completa de Goya, Barcelona, 1975. no. 47, p. 120, no. 481 (not inspected firsthand, names both, indicates no prime).

J. Camon Aznar, Francisco de Goya, vol. III, 1797–1812, Zaragoza, 1981, p. 158 (names both, but indicates that Beruete believes this is the prime version).
J. Gudiol, Goya. 1746-1828. Biografia, Estudio analítico y Catalogo de sus Pinturas. Barcelona, 1985, vol. I, no. 511; vol. II, figure 493 (as the prime version).

J. L. Morales y Marin, 'Retrato de Doña Maria Soledad de la Rocha Fernández de la Peña por Francisco de Goya y Lucientes', Goya: revista de arte, 253–254, 1996, p. 75–76 (as the prime version).

A. I Gutiérrez and R. R. Asenjo (eds.), 'La marquesa de Caballero', Ciencia & Esencia, V, Francisco de Goya. Un genio en desarollo, 2024, pp. 64-69.