Fuendetodos 1746 - 1828 Bordeaux

Margarita de Austria (1st edition), 1778

Etching on heavy cream laid paper: after Diego Velasquez (1599-1660)

375 x 313 mm.; 14 3/4 x 12 3/8 inches

Reference:

Delteil 7

Harris 6-III/1

Notes:

1. A very fine, well contrasted impression on laid paper of the rare 1st edition of 1778.

2. Goya’s full title of this work is: D. Margarita de Austria, Reyña de España, Muger de Phelipe III/Pintura de D. Diego Velasquez del tamaño del natural en el Real Palacio de Madrid, dibujada y grabada por D. Fran. Goya Pintor, año de 1778 (Margarita of Austria, Queen of Spain,Wife of Philipe III, Painting by D. Diego Velasquez, of life-size and found in The Royal Palace in Madrid, drawn and etched by D. Fran. Goya, Painter, in the year 1778).

3. Margarita of Austria was born in 1584. Her father was Karl von Steyer, the son of Ferdinand I, while her mother was Maria Anna of Bavaria. In 1599 at the age of 15 years, Margarita married Philip III, eventual King of Spain. She had eight children with Philip III: Philip IV of Spain , Carlos (1607-1632), Fernando (1609-1641), Alfonso Mauricio (1611-12), Anna (1601-1666), Maria (b.1603), Maria Anna (1606-1646), and Margarita Francisca (1610-1617). Margarita died in 1611 at the age of 27 years.Velasquez painted the painting on which Goya based his etching sometime after the death of Margarita.

4. During his kingship, Philip III saw the landed aristocracy in power and the rule of the validos, or royal favorites. The first of these "favorites", lasting to 1618, was the Duke of Lerma and afterwards Lerma’s son, the Duke of Uceda. In foreign affairs, the monarchy followed a peaceful policy ending the war with England through the Treaty of London of 1604 and maintaining the hegemony in Europe by relying on the influence of dynastic relations with other reigning families, particularly those in Austria and France.