Princess María Francisca de Asis de Borbón and Her Son Infante Carlos Luis María Fernando de Borbón

Luis de la Cruz y Rios was born at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, and sometimes signed his works Canario. He settled in Madrid in 1815 and became painter to Ferdinand VII (1784–1833). He died in Malaya.

The miniatures are framed back to back in a gilt metal mount with a decorative cresting. The sitters are María Francisca de Asis de Borbón, princess of Portugal, and Infante Carlos Luis María Fernando de Borbón, later conde de Montemolin. Princess María wears the purple and white ribbon of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa and the pink ribbon of an unidentified order. The Infante wears the collar of the Golden Fleece over the blue and white ribbon of the Order of Charles III and the orange ribbon of an unidentified order. The baby, elder son of Infante Carlos María Isidro de Borbón (1788–1855) and his niece, Princess María, was born in Madrid on January 31, 1818. It has been suggested that the inscription Á los 40 dias refers to his receipt of the Order of the Golden Fleece when forty days old. He was the nephew of Ferdinand VII (1784–1833), king of Spain; both he and his father were pretenders to the throne in 1833.

Seven miniatures by Cruz from the later 1820s representing the brother-in-law and uncle of the sitters, Infante Francisco de Paula de Borbón (1794–1865), his wife, Luisa Carlota, princess of the Two Sicilies (1804–1844), and five of their children were sold at Sotheby's, London, on May 28, 1992 (nos. 178 and 179).

[2016; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

Inscription: Signed, dated, and inscribed (reverse, in blue): (bottom) LC. á.1818; (top) Á los 40 · dias

Mrs. John LaPorte Given (until 1945)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Four Centuries of Miniature Painting," January 19–March 19, 1950, unnumbered cat. (pp. 9–10).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 218.

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 170, 172, no. 218, colorpl. 218 and ill. p. 171, note that "it has been suggested that the inscription 'Á los 40 dias' refers to [the Infante's] receipt of the Order of the Golden Fleece when forty days old".