"Charles Anthony of Bourbon, Prince of Asturias" clothbound notebook

Plain paper. Singer stitch binding. 18 x 24 cm. 64 sheets (126 pages).

The young couple formed by Prince Charles and Princess María Luisa would be portrayed by Mengs during their first happy stay in Aranjuez in the spring of 1766 after their marriage. In Charles Anthony of Bourbon, Prince of Asturias (the future Charles IV) (1766), a work reproduced on the cover of this beautiful notebook, the figure of the heir to the throne is silhouetted against a background of trees, a river, and several deer. This was always a portrait much loved by the monarch, who had it copied on numerous occasions.