Portrait of Dona Teresa Luisa de Sureda by Francisco de Goya

The great Spanish painter Goya is one of the best authors of female portraits. Theresa Louise de Sureda was the wife of a close friend of Goya Bartolome Sureda, painter and lithographer, director of the Royal Porcelain Factory in Madrid, who started producing Sevres porcelain. The artist knew his model and its character well.

The position of the young woman is full of strong-willed determination – a rigid back line, a straight look and tight lips, a right hand gesture, extinguishing an urge to immediately get up and leave. The qualities inherent in the heroine are excellently conveyed by the master. The color of the work is based on a combination of sonorous, dense dark shades.

Theresa de Sureda’s dress almost merges with the background, a light contrasting patch is only a yellow silk covering of the chair. The canvas is written in a free, somewhat generalized manner, which does not prevent the realistic interpretation of the model. If in earlier portraits an important role was played by the costumes and accessories of heroes, then the artist does not hide behind the details the essence and nature of the depicted.