Portrait of Empress Charlotte

Portrait of Empress Charlotte (also known as Carlota) is attributed to Tiburcio Sánchez de la Barquera (1837–1902), and the image is an oval portrait of a young woman against a dark, brownish ground. She is shown from the shoulders up, turned slightly to the left, with her hair pulled back and a red flower tucked above her ear. Her black lace mantilla falls over a pale shawl patterned with grey foliage, and a pearl necklace and teardrop pearl earrings catch the light. Her face is softly modelled and calm, with rose-tinted cheeks and red lips. The painting is in the oval format common to court and society portraits of the period. Tiburcio Sánchez was born in Hidalgo in 1837 and trained at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City, where his teachers included Jesús Corral, Pelegrín Clavé, and Eugenio Landesio. He studied during the Imperial years of 1864–1867, when Maximilian and Carlota ruled Mexico, and he later became a favourite pupil of Santiago Rebull. He received a pension to study painting in Europe, and on his return he worked mainly as a portraitist for Mexico City's elite. He created the ornamental paintings of the Palacio de Minería and a life-size portrait of Benito Juárez now in the Palacio Nacional. Critics describe his palette as sombre, with a fondness for shadows and strong contrasts, which suits the dark ground of this oval.