Mujer Con Fular Abanico Y Flores 1830

Rosario Weiss Zorrilla made this sketch, Mujer Con Fular Abanico Y Flores, likely in Spain during the early 19th century. It presents a woman in contemporary dress, holding a fan, flowers, and wearing a patterned shawl. As the daughter of Francisco Goya, Weiss had access to the Spanish court. In 1840, three years before her death, she became drawing teacher to the Royal Princesses, Isabel and Luisa. Weiss’s institutional position as a royal teacher would have given her first-hand experience of the gender politics of the time. This position may also have brought an acute awareness of her identity as a woman artist in a male-dominated art world. This sketch is not a finished painting, but rather a study or exercise. As such, it presents the viewer with an intimate window into the artistic process. Art historians can draw on many resources, such as letters, diaries, and financial records, to better understand that process.