Young Lady Wearing a Mantilla and Basquina

Francisco Goya

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the knees up against a dark gray background, a young woman with peachy skin stands with her body angled to our left and she looks at us with brown eyes in this vertical portrait painting. She has dark, arched brows, a straight nose, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. Her dark brown, curly hair is covered by a mantilla, an ivory-white, lacy scarf highlighted with pale gold and subtle, russet-red highlights. She holds the two long ends of the mantilla with her right hand, farther from us, below her bust. The ends of the scarf fall to mid-thigh over her long, ink-black dress. The bust of her dress is also white and shimmers, like the mantilla. Long, tight-fitting, off-white gloves nearly reach the short, puffed, cap sleeves of the dress. The back of the glove on her left arm, closer to her, is tied at the top with a bow, and she holds a silvery-white, closed fan in that hand. A brownish-coral colored necklace is painted as a squiggle of paint around her neck. Barely visible, the painter signed the painting in the lower left: “Goya.”