Elizabeth Farnese

Isabel Farnesio (Parma, October 25, 1692-Aranjuez, July 10, 1766) was an Italian aristocrat, queen consort of Spain as the second wife of King Philip V and mother of Charles III..

Early years of life

Isabel Farnesio was born in the Italian city of Parma, in the Palacio de la Pelota. She was the second daughter of the Crown Prince of Parma, Edward II Farnese (who died when she was one year old) and Countess Palatine Dorothea Sofia of Neoburgo. She spent her childhood in opulence under the tutelage of her grandfather, Duke Ranuccio II. and, later, from her uncle Francisco, her stepfather after his wedding to her mother in 1696. Isabella had a difficult relationship with her mother, but was reportedly deeply attached to her step-uncle. Although raised in seclusion in an apartment in the Doge's Palace in Parma, her education was excellent: she could speak and write Latin, French and German and was educated in rhetoric, philosophy, geography and history, but reportedly found no interest in it. in her studies and lacked intellectual interests. She was a better student within dance, studying painting with Pietro Antonio Avanzini and enjoying music and embroidery. Likewise, she survived a virulent attack of smallpox, which left visible marks on her face.

The successive deaths of her older brother, Alejandro Ignacio (August 5, 1693) and her father (September 6, 1693), leave her as the third in the line of succession to the Duchy of Parma, preceded only by her two uncles, Francisco and Antonio Farnesio, who would reign successively in the Duchy of Parma, dying without any issue. In this way, Isabella became the sole legitimate heir to both the Farnese and Medici estates (via her paternal great-grandmother, Marguerite de' Medici), once this family died out in 1743 and, being the last surviving descendant of Infanta María de Portugal-Guimarães, Duchess consort of Parma, also the legal custodian of the House of Avís primogeniture, and therefore, the heir to the Kingdom of Portugal.

Marriage

Portrait of Felipe V and Isabel Farnesio, by Louis-Michel van Loo (c. 1743). Oil on canvas, 181 cm x 127,00 cm Museo del Prado (Madrid).

She married the widowed king of Spain, Felipe V, in 1714, thanks to the good efforts of the Italian bishop and cardinal of Malaga, Giulio Alberoni, who managed to get the king to appoint him as his prime minister shortly after his arrival at court. She had a strong character and an authoritarian personality that gave her great influence in the Court of the time. Being ambitious, she would enjoy the exercise of royal power, for the same reason she had many opponents and enemies, and she was feared by many members of the Court. The Baron of Pollnitz described the Queen in his memoirs as follows: "The Queen is tall and attractive, well built but slender, and badly pockmarked." She has a great and enterprising genius, which no difficulty can undermine. She made it clear, as soon as she set foot on Spanish soil, that she would not suffer to be led by the nose: for even before she had seen the King's face, she exiled the Princess of the Ursines, both from Court and Kingdom, because of of the ascendancy she knew the Princess had over the King."

In relation to the above, by the time King Felipe V began to isolate himself, he was reducing his personal circle, turning Queen Elizabeth into a fundamental character in the politics of the moment. Thus, while the monarch fell into depressions that plunged him into increasingly intense melancholy and despair, with an increasingly prolonged abandonment of his personal hygiene in those periods, while Isabel used all her influences to make her personal ambitions of placing their children on the thrones of Europe.

Public life

Portrait of the Family of Philip V, by Jean Ranc (c. 1723). Oil on canvas, 44 cm x 65,00 cm Museo del Prado (Madrid).

She was derogatorily nicknamed "the parmigiana." According to descriptions of the time, she was not "exceedingly pretty, although of a distinguished bearing; she had a pockmarked face, expressive blue eyes, prominent nose... ». However, in other sources, as well as in pictorial representations—some included in this article—she appears represented as a dark-eyed woman. She was also "pleasant and, above all, she revealed an energy and intelligence out of the ordinary."

During her reign as the wife of Felipe V, she formed an important art collection. Each of the spouses marked her paintings with a different dynastic symbol (the fleur de lis, her; and the Cross of Burgundy, the king) and the queen was especially fond of Murillo's paintings, which she bought in large numbers. This royal couple was also responsible for the purchase of the sculpture collection of Cristina de Suecia, which includes the Group of Saint Ildefonso and the eight "Muses" (all of them now exhibited in the Museo del Prado). Isabel de Farnesio also stood out as a miniaturist, conserving some of her works at the Granja de San Ildefonso, Aranjuez.

The pictorial museum and optical scale, by the Spanish painter Antonio Palomino is a treatise on the history of Spanish Baroque painting, whose first volume is dedicated to Queen Isabel de Farnesio, very fond of painting.

Isabel Farnesio with her eldest son, Carlos.

The queen never showed affection, but rather disdain, for her stepsons. For her, the descendants of the king's first marriage with María Luisa Gabriela de Saboya constituted another stumbling block to achieve her main objective: to provide her children Carlos (future Carlos III) and Felipe with a kingdom to govern. While Felipe V lived, the relationship between Isabel and her stepsons (especially with the infant Fernando) was characterized by a continuous mutual disregard, despite an apparent cordiality.

Isabel did not reveal herself as a loving mother with the six children she had, either, since she consumed all her time and energy in political intrigues to, precisely, forge that bright future for them that she so longed for them.

His policy was aimed at recovering for the Spanish monarchy the Italian territories lost by the Treaty of Utrecht. Thus, he obtained for his son Carlos the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, and for his another son, Philip, the duchy of Parma. When she became a widow, she moved with her children Luis and María Antonia from the Buen Retiro Palace to the palace of the Duke of Osuna, which was located in the area of the current Plaza de España in Madrid; but a year later, in August 1747, her stepson, and Ferdinand VI of Spain, banished her to the Royal Site of La Granja de San Ildefonso in Segovia, although she built another residence near it, the Royal Palace from Riofrio. In those years of exile, Isabel Farnesio lived dedicated to her private tasks, but always attentive to the evolution of the reign of her stepson, especially attentive to her health and especially after the death of her wife., Barbara of Braganza. When Ferdinand VI died without issue in 1759, Isabel's son, Carlos, ascended the throne, so she returned to court. However, her continuous fights and discussions with her daughter-in-law, María Amalia de Sajonia, made her withdraw from her until the end of her days in the Madrid town of Aranjuez.

Offspring

From her marriage to King Felipe V she had seven children:

Descendence of Felipe V and Isabel Farnesio

Image Name Life duration Notes Carlos III de España Queen Consort Maria Amalia de Saxony 20 January 1716 14 December 1788 King of Spain (10 August 1759-until his death). He married Mary Amalia of Saxony; they had thirteen children. Francisco 21 March 1717 21 April 1717 Death in childhood. Mariana Victoria de Borbón Consort José I of Portugal 31 March 1718 15 January 1781 Consort Queen of Portugal and Algarve (31 July 1750-24 February 1777). He married Joseph I of Portugal; they had four children. Felipe I de Parma Conyuge Luisa Isabel de France 15 March 1720 18 July 1765 Duke of Parma, Plasencia and Guastalla (1748 – until his death). He founded the house of Bourbon-Parma (also known as the Bourbons of Parma); he married Luisa Isabel of France; they had three children. María Teresa Antonia Rafaela Conyuge Luis, Dolphin of France 11 June 1726 22 July 1746 Dolphin of France (23 February 1745-until his death). He married Luis de France (son of Louis XV of France); they had a son. Luis Antonio Jaime Conyuge María Teresa de Vallabriga y Rozas 25 July 1727 7 August 1785 Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain (1735), Cardinal of Santa María della Scala (1735), with only eight years and Archbishop of Seville (1741), In 1754 he resigned to his ecclesiastical titles, being finally the XIII Count of Chinchón (1761-until his death). He contracted morganical marriage with Mary Teresa of Vallabriga and Rozas; they had three children separated from the succession. María Antonia Fernanda Consort Victor Amadeo III of Sardinia 17 November 1729 19 September 1785 Queen Corsorte of Sardinia (20 February 1773-until his death). He married Victor Amadeo III of Sardinia; they had twelve children.

Portrait of the family of Felipe V, by Louis-Michel van Loo (c. 1743). Oil on canvas, 408 × 520 cm, Museo del Prado (Madrid). In the portrait we see Fernando, Prince of Asturias (future Fernando VI), his wife, Barbara of Braganza, the kings Felipe V and Isabel Farnesio, behind the Infante Luis (future count of Chinchón), the Infante Felipe (futuro duque de Parma) with his wife Luisa Isabel de Borbón, the Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, the Infanta Carlos (futuro Carlos III),

Death

Isabel died in 1766, being buried next to the remains of her late husband Felipe V in the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, specifically in a mausoleum located in the Royal Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, in the so-called Sala de the Relics, a temple inserted in the palace itself, located in the town of La Granja de San Ildefonso (province of Segovia), a few kilometers from Segovia.

Heraldry

La Reina consorte Isabel Farnesio (1714-1746)	Widow Queen Isabel Farnesio (1746-1766)

Ancestors

Predecessor: María Luisa Gabriela de Saboya	Queen Consort of Spain 1714-1724 (14 January)	Successor: Luisa Isabel de Orleans
Predecessor: Luisa Isabel de Orleans	Queen Consort of Spain 1724 (6 September) - 1746	Successor: Barbara of Braganza