This painting was acquired by the Banco de España in 1971, long after it was produced. It came from the family of the Marquis of Miraflores, who also owned portraits by Goya of the Marchioness of Pontejos (c.1786, now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC) and José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca, dated 1782. This last iconic work is now part of the Banco de España Collection.

It has been argued that this portrait is actually of the Count, but it is more likely to be of his brother Francisco, Marquis Consort of Pontejos through his marriage to María Ana de Pontejos y Sandoval, whose unforgettable portrait by Goya now hangs in Washington. Further credence for this idea is provided by the remarkable likeness of the sitter to a full-length portrait of Francisco (with a panel indicating his name) which was sold on the Madrid art market in the 1980s.

The sash worn by the sitter is that of the Order of Charles III. He is also wearing the Grand Cross of the same order. This sash enables the portrait to be dated, as the colours of the order were inverted (from a blue strip with white edging to a white strip with blue edging) by a Royal Decree of 12 June 1792. The Great Cross was awarded (somewhat irregularly) to Francisco Moñino by his brother the Count of Floridablanca in 1789, so the painting must date from between then and 1792.

The work was acquired in the belief that it was by Goya. This is understandable in view of its broad similarities to portraits by Goya of other members of the Madrid nobility painted around 1790. However, the idea does not stand up to close scrutiny, as there is an undoubted harshness and flatness in the execution of the work that precludes its being painted by the same hand that produced the superb portrait of the sitter’s wife in 1786.

The idea that it was painted by Francisco Folch de Cardona becomes still more plausible if one considers that he had been Head of the School of Drawing of Murcia and maintained close links with the Floridablanca family in the city (indeed, it was as their protégé that he moved to Madrid in 1789), and above all if one takes into account how similar its style is to the portrait of Juan de Piña by Folch de Cardona that also forms part of the Collection.

Comments updated by Carlos Martín.

Alfonso Pérez Sánchez