This life-size, full-length portrait shows an adult woman with light-to-medium olive skin and dark hair drawn back beneath a jeweled headpiece. She faces forward with a steady, composed expression, framed by a sweeping red drapery and a cool gray interior. Her figure is shaped by an eighteenth-century silhouette, then expanded into a dramatically wide tobajilla (skirt) of blue-and-white striped satin or silk covered with intricate silver-and-gold embroidery. White lace trims her sleeves and neckline. Matching blue shoes fasten with bright buckles over pale stockings. She wears a choker and longer necklace, bracelets, and a chandelier earring with teardrop pearls. In one hand, she holds a folded fan. In her other, she offers a small, ornate watch with a silver-and-pearl pendant above a dark wooden table. Pearls, jewelry, and a vase of flowers sit nearby, turning the scene into a catalog of wealth. Through an arched opening, a manicured promenade with a fountain and distant archway recedes in perspective, anchoring her to Lima, Peru. At lower right, the inscription names her Doña Mariana Belsunse y Salasar, born in Lima, the wife of Coronel Agustín de Landaburrú y Rivera.
The Brooklyn Museum frames this portrait as “conspicuous luxury” in Spanish colonial Peru with the tobajilla, jewels, and accessories operating as proof of rank. Beyond the arch is the Paseo dede Aguas and the Plaza de Acho, real Lima landmarks that place her within the city’s public life. The museum recounts that she entered a convent to avoid marrying an older man. Later, she married that man's nephew, the wealthy mayor of Lima for an arc that fueled public scandal. Against that backdrop, the brilliant blue can read as an appeal to virtue, while the tiny watch (held out like evidence) turns time into a luxury object. Attributed to either José Joaquín Bermejo or Pedro José Díaz, the painting fixes her name and reputation in paint now hundreds of years later.
"Doña Mariana Belsunse y Salasar" attributed to José Joaquín Bermejo or Pedro José Díaz (Peruvian) - Oil on canvas / c. 1780 - Brooklyn Museum (New York) #WomenInArt #BrooklynMuseum #ColonialArt #JoseJoaquinBermejo #PedroJoseDíaz #art #artText #BlueskyArt #pintura #PortraitofaWoman #PeruvianArt