Spain's Ministry of Culture has announced that two portraits of Carlos IV and María Luisa de Parma, painted by Francisco de Goya in 1789 on commission from Seville's Royal Tobacco Factory, will join the permanent collection of the city's Museum of Fine Arts. The decision follows a March Supreme Court ruling confirming state ownership against a 2017 claim by Altadis. The paintings will move there after a temporary exhibition ends on June 15.
Spain's Ministry of Culture informed Andalusia's Department of Culture and Sports on Friday that the portraits are assigned to the Museum of Fine Arts, state-owned and regionally managed. Currently held at the General Archive of the Indies, the paintings will leave the temporary exhibition 'The Art of Preserving Memory' on June 15 for their permanent transfer.
Regional Culture Minister Patricia del Pozo voiced her delight: “We are very happy in Andalusia and very grateful to the minister and the Ministry of Culture for agreeing to our request to deposit those two paintings in Seville's Fine Arts Museum, once state ownership was declared.” In a late-March letter to Minister Ernest Urtasun, she argued the works “dialogue with Seville's history and are best housed in their home, the Fine Arts Museum.”
Commissioned for the monarchs' oath celebrations in Fame Square, the oils measure 128 x 95.5 cm for Carlos IV—dressed in red with the Golden Fleece—and 126 x 94 cm for 37-year-old María Luisa in a blue silk dress. Goya received 4,000 reales de vellón on May 11, 1789, without assistants, per the receipt. This addition complements the museum's other historical canvases, such as those by Domingo Martínez.
