Doña Francisca Vicenta Chollet y Caballero
1806
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828)
Oil on canvas
Norton Simon Art Foundation
In 1799, Francisco de Goya was made First Court Painter to King Charles IV of Spain. For the next ten years he painted numerous official portraits of the royal family, and many portraits of subjects of the court circle. In 1801, he painted Antonio Noriega de Bada y Bermúdez (National Gallery, Washington), the court treasurer and the husband of the sitter in this picture, who in that year was awarded the honorific membership in the Order of Carlos III. Five years later, the painter finished this portrait of Doña Francisca, in which he combines elements of delicate detail with great finesse—the embroidery of her silk dress, her sparkling tiara, and the dog’s outrageous collar—with an equally free, palpable brushwork. X-rays of portions of the composition, including her pose and the scampish pug, reveal final alterations made by Goya, causing some scholars to speculate that the portraits of husband and wife were originally intended as pendants. The ultimate simplicity of the composition and reduction of spatial depth give the subject a quiet and intimate character, despite her diffident aire.
Goya at the Norton Simon Museum
Three paintings by Francisco de Goya, accompanied by one of the most extensive collections of the artist’s graphic work in the world, attest to the appeal of this groundbreaking Spanish artist, whose vivid realism Norton Simon admired. While Doña Francisca’s pose and costume exemplify the characteristics of the society portrait beloved by Madrileños at the beginning of the 19th century, her expression remains inscrutable, and there is no sense of idealization in her appearance. This portrait is one of Simon’s most significant acquisitions from 1981, in the last decade of his activity as a collector, and purchased just six years after the Museum opened. In 2014, the Museum created an “In Focus” web section to provide online visitors with a closer look at some of the most important artists and areas in the Museum’s collection. Inaugurating the section was Goya.
