Carmen Moreno, Marchioness of the Guadalquivir Marshes

Francisco Lacoma was named Painter to the King in 1819. During his time in the Court he painted many portraits of the Royal Family, especially of Ferdinand VII. Later on he returned to Paris, where he had been studying during five years when he was young, and he stayed there until his death. He painted there this impressive portrait of the marchioness of las Marismas del Guadalquivir in 1833, a year after having painted the one of her husband, Mr. Alejandro M.ª Aguado Ramírez de Estenoz (Seville 1784 - Gijón 1842), who was a notable military man, banker, intellectual and art collector (Museo del Romanticismo, inv. 509). In fact, this painting is a replica of the one of her husband, but in female code, which provides valuable information about what the perfect condition for a traditional and domestic woman was supposed to be. The interior spaces are used to define a certain socially and historically accepted female model belonging to bourgeois society. The lady is wearing a very diaphanous and gathered white chiffon dress and holds a closed fan in her right hand while she is sitting in front of a lovely mahogany dressing table in Empire Style.