Thérèse Louise de Sureda
Francisco Goya·c. 1803/1804
Historical Context
Thérèse Louise de Sureda from around 1803–04, at the National Gallery of Art, pairs with the portrait of her husband Bartolomé Sureda as the female pendant in one of Goya's most psychologically penetrating companion portraits. Thérèse Louise, a Frenchwoman who married the Spanish inventor in Sèvres before they both moved to Spain, is shown in a golden chair against a grey ground, wearing a dark dress that frames her pale, direct face with its steady, slightly challenging gaze. Goya's late portrait method — minimal background, bold tonal contrasts, concentrated psychological observation — reached a particular intensity in portraits of women, and Thérèse Louise de Sureda is among his most powerful female portraits, comparable in its psychological acuity with the Marquesa de Pontejos or the Condesa de Chinchón. The NGA's possession of both Sureda pendants allows direct comparison of how Goya modulated his approach between male and female sitters, using temperature, posture, and gaze to construct different but equally compelling characterisations.
Technical Analysis
The oil on canvas demonstrates Goya's masterful economy with a dark background and limited palette, focusing attention on the sitter's expressive face and the luminous rendering of her white dress and shawl.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the luminous rendering of Thérèse Louise's white dress and shawl: the cool, bright tones create a striking contrast with the dark background that frames her face.
- ◆Look at the golden chair she sits in: this warm accent against the dark background is characteristic of Goya's careful placement of color notes within a restricted palette.
- ◆Observe the cool, penetrating gaze: the French-born wife of a Spanish inventor returns the viewer's look with a self-possession that Goya captures without flattery.
- ◆Find the pendant relationship with her husband's portrait: the two compositions share a format but create distinct personalities, demonstrating Goya's ability to calibrate his approach to each individual sitter.
Provenance
Possibly Pedro Escat, Palma de Mallorca.[1] Sureda family, Madrid and Seville;[2] (Durand-Ruel et Cie, Paris); purchased 28 September 1897 by Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer [Henry Osborne Havemeyer, 1847-1907, and Louisine Waldron Elder, 1855-1929], New York;[3] by inheritance 1929 to their daughter, Mrs. Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen [née Adaline Havemeyer, 1884-1963], Morristown, New Jersey; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] Escat's ownership is first mentioned by Charles Yriarte, _Goya, sa biographie et le catalogue de l'oeuvre_, Paris, 1867: 148, and subsequently is noted in Conde de la Viñaza, _Goya, su tiempo, su vida, sus obras_, Madrid, 1887: 263, n. 121. [2] Janusz Gerij, a descendant of the Sureda family, wrote to the NGA that the family has photographs of both NGA 1941.10.1 and NGA 1942.3.1 that were taken about 1892 (letter of 13 May 1995, in NGA Department of Visual Services, copy in NGA curatorial files). [3] Frances Weitzenhoffer, "The Creation of the Havemeyer Collection, 1875-1900," Ph.D. diss., The City University of New York, 1982: 265, cited in _Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection_, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993: 222, 343 no. 292. Louisine E. Havemeyer, in _Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector_, New York, 1961: 136, recalls that "we bought...the pair of 'Sureda' portraits for less than fifty thousand [pesetas]." Mrs. Havemeyer inherited the collection after her husband's death in 1907.
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