(Usti nad Labem 1728–1779 Rome)
Portrait of Mariana del Pilar Ana Silva-Bazán y Sarmiento (1739–1784), half-length, with a dog,
oil on canvas, 51 x 41 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Bukowskis, 11-13 October 1950, lot 197;
sale, Bukowskis, Stockholm, 2 November 2010, lot 198012 (as French artist, 18th century);
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Steffi Roettgen for confirming the attribution of the present painting after examination in the original and for her help in cataloguing this lot.

This previously unknown painting by Anton Raphael Mengs, only recently discovered, offers new information in the development of one of his most significant female portraits from his Spanish period.

The present portrait represents Mariana del Pilar Ana Silva-Bazán y Sarmiento, as can be concluded from a comparison with her portrait in the Alba Collection (see S. Roettgen, Anton Raphael Mengs 1728-1779, Munich 1999, cat. no. 263). Azara mentions two portraits of the Duquesa de Huescar in his list of Mengs’s works (Azara-Fea 1787, p. XLIV), both of identical dimensions and life-size. Considering the smaller size of the present version, it cannot be presumed that he was referring to this painting, however the present painting may have been reduced. Differences in the two compositions can be seen in the appearance of the sitter, who wears a transparent chemise-like garment instead of the precious cream silk robe with a blue bow, her right shoulder in the painting appearing almost exposed.

Other differences compared to the present version can be seen on the sitter´s head. In the present version a delicate light blue veil, or cap, is placed. The red cape is here depicted without a fur trim and the background is filled with several trees. In the preliminary drawing, the background was only provided with loose hatching, but otherwise all these elements, deviating from the Alba version, can already be found. The direct connection of the present composition with the drawing is particularly evident in the depiction of the face, whose natural-looking aura stands in stark contrast to the version in the Alba Collection, in which the subject also appears somewhat older due to her formal dress. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that this canvas, previously unknown to research, belongs to the genesis of the portrait in the Alba Collection.

In addition to the sketch of the composition, the painter therefore presented a form of “presentation model” which, unlike the oil studies, which presumably preceded the drawing and only concerned the face, reproduces the composition of the sitter according to life. In the painting technique and in the modelling of the incarnate parts, the portrait shows similar characteristics to other courtly portraits of ladies painted in Madrid between 1761 and 1769. This becomes clear when compared with the portrait of Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, which was painted around 1765 (see S. Roettgen, Ibid., 1999, cat. no. 180).

Mariana del Pilar Ana Silva Bazán y Sarmiento gave birth in 1757 to Francesco de Paula de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo (1733-1770), the only son of the XII. Duque de Alba (1714-1776). This marriage produced only one daughter: Maria del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva (born 1762), who was married, aged only 13, on 15 January 1775 to her cousin José Alvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga (1756-1796). After the death of her grandfather (1776), she became the XIII Duquesa de Alba by virtue of birth, inheriting all the titles of the Alba family, one of the most important families in Spain.

As indicated by the wedding ring the sitter is holding in her left hand, this portrait was created in connection with the sitter’s marriage, and as a counterpart to the portrait of her grandfather, the XII. Duque de Alba, which Mengs probably painted on the same occasion and which shows the influential Grande de España with the insignia of his rank (see S. Roettgen, Ibid., 1999, cat. no. 189).

In 1795, these portraits were joined by Goya’s portraits of the XIII. Duquesa de Alba and her husband also conceived as counterparts. Since their marriage remained childless, this line ended in 1802 with the death of Cayetana and the title of Duque de Alba passing to another branch of the family. Against the background of the official function that the portrait of Mariana de Silva had in the ancestral gallery of the House of Alba, it becomes understandable why the permissiveness of the garment and the natural appearance that characterizes the below-life-size modello would have been out of place and the composition was modified. In order to preserve the symmetry with its counterpart, the landscape background was also abandoned. The changes that resulted from this are significant. In place of the free and unconventional atmosphere that characterizes the preparatory drawing and this modello, an in every respect highly official portrait was created. Therefore, the modern and casual appearance was lost, which would probably have been more appropriate to the nature and character of the sitter and was more in line with her status as a bride, with a wedding ring prominently displayed just as ostentatiously as the key, which is probably should be interpreted as a symbol of love (a key to the heart).

It is known that Mariana de Silva was a confident personality of high intellectual ability and standards. She had three short marriages and she was successful in the intellectual circles of enlightened Spain as a writer and painter. She wrote and translated dramas and was able to write and paint equally well with both hands. In 1766, she was accepted into the Real Academia de San Fernando, where she temporarily held the office of directora honoraria. However, her paintings and literary works have not been preserved.