The Prado returns its melancholic smile to the Countess of Chinchón

The restorer Elisa Mora, before 'The Countess of Chinchón', by GoyaSanti Burgos

María Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga was 20 years old and pregnant with her only daughter, Carlota Luisa, when she was portrayed by Francisco de Goya in 1800. The oil, considered the quintessential court portrait and an essential piece of the collection since its acquisition in 2000, shows the wife of Manuel Godoy as a young woman with a melancholic expression wrapped in white fabrics and lace that shine on a forceful dark gray.

Its state of conservation was good, but the passage of time had turned off the ...

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