The Oath of Allegiance to Don Fernando as Prince of Asturias
1791.Room 039
With this work, Paret consolidated his relationship with the Royal Family and especially with the new king, Charles IV. The relevance of the commission becomes evident in the remarkable quality of the painting, one of the most complex and ambitious undertaken by the artist. It is possible that, in order not to spoil the very elaborate preparatory drawing (Musée du Louvre, Graphic Arts Department, RF 43408) with a grid, Paret transferred the composition by means of a grid of threads placed over it, since the canvas has a black pencil grid traced on the preparatory layer. He made a detailed new drawing (in black pencil as well) over this grid which already included several modifications, such as a lower vanishing point. In this second drawing, he slightly enlarged the size of the figures in the foreground. He also placed the tapestries on the right wall lower down, so as to highlight the figures in that area, whilst increasing the height of the stands. He also enhanced the size of the staircase and the balustrades, as well as that of the altar – to which he added a rectangular top crowned by the figures of God the Father and angels – and decorated the upper part of the apse with coats of arms. Finally, he enlarged the size of the figures in the transept in order to make this area of the church appear closer. This under-drawing can be glimpsed in several areas of the pictorial surface, where the layers of colour are more transparent.
The final work is noteworthy for both its extraordinarily delicate colouring and for the accurate characterisation of the figures depicted in their attires and attitudes at its finest, all of which result in conveying a solemn yet relaxed atmosphere of the ceremony, which has already begun. Portela Sandoval correctly identified the scene – previously considered to be the representation of two different moments – as a singular moment in the progression of the ceremony in which each of the attendants, once the mass was over, went up to the transept of the church to take an oath before the archbishop, pay homage to the monarch’s chief steward, and finally kiss the hands of the monarchs, Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma, and of Prince Ferdinand. Two Grandees of Spain – assembled to the right on the lower floor of the nave – are already climbing on the first of the seven steps to join their peers. Paret may have intentionally depicted one more step than in the drawing, following the recommendation of Vitruvius to use odd numbers for the steps of the temples, along with the figures stepping on with the right foot, considered to be the steadiest and with which, according to tradition, Catholic priests were supposed to enter the altar. In the meantime, at a table in the centre of the transept, Cardinal Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana (1722–1804), Primatial Archbishop of Toledo, takes the oath of a Grandee of Spain kneeling before a crucifix and placing his hand on the Bible. Further to the right, the Marquess of Santa Cruz, standing, receives the homage from another Grandee, whilst a third one kneels to kiss the hands of the king and prince, who is accompanied by his uncle, the Infante Antonio Pascual. In the background are some members of the royal service. Infantas María Josefa (the prince’s aunt) and María Amalia and María Luisa (his sisters) follow the ceremony from the high gallery on the right, even though in reality they attended the ceremony from the left gallery. This change was due to the perspective of the church chosen by the artist, thus giving more prominence to the side occupied by the kings. Amongst the courtiers to the right of the king is the Marquess of Villafranca (1756–1796), Duke Consort of Alba, with his sword raised and staring at the viewer. In red in the front row, to the left of the transept, is Cardinal Antonio Sentmanat de Cartellá (1734–1806), patriarch of the West Indies. Behind, the members of the Chamber of Castile are depicted dressed in their characteristic black attire. The first of them is identified as the legal scholar Pedro Rodríguez Campomanes y Pérez (1723–1802), Count of Campomanes, appointed president of the Parliament in 1789. Further back are the king’s stewards. Some of the grandees and aristocrats gathered on the right of the nave have also been recognised, for example the fifth from the left in the front row, identified as the Count of Floridablanca (1728–1808). Several halberdiers in blue, bearing arms over their shoulders, the macebearers on the staircase and the pairs of kings-at-arms behind the balustrades in their polychrome costumes complete the impressive representation of this event.
Maurer, Gudrun, 'Luis Paret y Alcázar. Jura de Don Fernando como Príncipe de Asturias' En:. Paret, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2022, p.255-256, f.78.1, nº 78
