Queen Maria Theresa of Austria and the Grand Dauphin of France
Artist: Charles Beaubrun (French, 1604-1692)
Date c. 1644
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain
Description
Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV and Elisabeth of France, was born on September 20, 1638, married Louis XIV on June 9, 1660, and died on July 30, 1683. She appears accompanied by her son Louis, the Grand Dauphin, heir to the French throne, who was born in Fontainebleau on November 1, 1661; he was the grandson of King Philip IV of Spain and the father of King Philip V of Spain ; he died, without ever reigning, at the Château de Meudon on April 14, 1711.
Maria Theresa became Queen Consort of France after her marriage to Louis XIV. Although the terms of the marriage included the future queen's express renunciation of her dynastic rights to the territories of the Spanish Monarchy in exchange for a substantial dowry, the death of Charles II without issue meant that, after the War of the Spanish Succession, his grandson assumed the Spanish crown.