Portrait of Rosa de Salazar y Gabiño, II Countess of Monteblanco and Montemar

The County of Monteblanco is a noble title created by King Ferdinand VI of Spain in 1755 to recognize criollo Agustín de Salazar. The title passed not without controversy to his daughter Rosa in 1771. She sat for this portrait around age 26, probably in the context of her marriage. Its author most likely was Pedro José Diaz, heir of the famous artist Cristobal Lozano, who had created likenesses for Agustín and his parents a decade before.

This cosmopolitan portrait has no parallel within the local tradition either in terms of format and composition: elites preferred full-body representations, and her wig—or powdered hair—is certainly not a good match for Lima´s humid weather. One of the wealthiest individuals in the viceroyalty of Peru, the countess owned many assets, including haciendas in the Chincha valley, where she had over three hundred enslaved poeple working for her. A few of them, attired in the French style, appear in the background of those earlier family portraits.