Mengs and Velázquez

Mengs‘ work also clearly shows references to the style of Diego Velázquez (1599–1660), his most important predecessor as a Spanish court painter. Particularly striking are the similarities with Velázquez‘s portrait of the Infanta Margarita in a Pink Gown. These concern not only to the pose and clothing, but also to the painterly technique: in no other painting by Mengs is his virtuoso brushwork expressed as succinctly as here, where dabs of color give shape and vibration to the embroidery and lace of the dress.
The portrait not only demonstrates Mengs' extraordinary ability to combine representation and personality, but possibly also reflects the dynastic interests of the subject's mother: Maria Carolina had the painting sent to the young lady's grandmother, Empress Maria Theresa, in Vienna. It is probably no coincidence that Mengs followed in the tradition of Velázquez's portraits of the Infanta, which were held in high esteem at the Habsburg court. Like the Infanta before her, Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily later became Empress of the Holy Roman Empire through the marriage to her cousin Francis II/I. (1790).