Lot 76: Juan Carreño de Miranda Avilés 1614-1685 Madrid

Juan Carreño de Miranda Avilés 1614-1685 Madrid
Portrait of King Charles II of Spain
inscribed 'B.' (lower left) and '42/9' (lower right)
oil on canvas
21½ x 16½ in. 54.6 x 41.9 cm.

Inventory of the paintings in the Palace of Boadilla, before 1845, p. 3.
Inventory of the pictures in the painting collection at the Palace of Boadilla, second Salon, 1886, no. 213.
Inventory of the collection of Henri Melchior Cognet Chappuis de Maubou de la Roue and of his wife, the former María-Teresa Ruspoli y Alvárez de Toledo, 1914, p. 20, no. 9, illustrated pp. 20-21.

Don Luis Antonio de Borbón y Farnesio (1727-1785), Infante of Spain and Conde de Chinchón, Arenas de San Pedro (Avila), and by descent to Doña Carlota Luisa Godoy y Borbón (1800-1886), 2nd Duquesa de Sueca and Condesa de Chinchón, Marquesa de Boadilla del Monte, wife of Principe Camillo Ruspoli (1788-1864), Madrid, and by descent to her son Don Adolfo Ruspoli (1822-1914), 2nd Duque de la Alcudía, 3rd Duque de Sueca and Conde de Chinchón, and by descent to his daughter
María-Teresa Ruspoli y Alvarez de Toledo, wife of Henri Melchior Cognet Chappuis de Laubou de la Roue, and by descent through the family.

NO RESERVE
This lot is offered without reserve.
King Charles II of Spain (1661-1700), son of Philip IV and his second wife Mariana of Austria, was the last Habsburg ruler of Spain. The present likeness relates to the full-length, autograph portrait of Charles II by Carreño de Miranda, signed and dated 1671, in the Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias, Oviedo. Another autograph version, signed and dated 1673, is in the collection of the Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Carreño de Miranda was considered, after Velázquez, to be the most accomplished Spanish portrait painter of the second half of the seventeeth century.

The inscription 'B.' on the painting refers to its provenance, in the collection of the heirs of Don Luis Jaime Antonio de Borbón y Farnesio, Infante of Spain; upon his death in 1785 his possessions were transferred to the Palacio de Boadilla del Monte near Madrid. At one point the painting also bore the inventory number 213, from an inventory of the palace taken in 1886.

We are grateful to Angel Mario Carreño and Pilar López for confirming the attribution to the artist (written communication, 27 November 2008).