page_title: María Isabella of Spain
section_title: Duchess of Calabria
hierarchical_section_title: María Isabella of Spain / Duchess of Calabria
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Il Ritratto della famiglia di Francesco I è un quadro che si trova a Napoli nel Museo di Capodimonte (inv. SM 12323), sezione Appartamento Reale, proveniente dal Palazzo Reale di Caserta. Il ritratto fu commissionato a Giuseppe Cammarano dal Principe Francesco I come regalo per il sessantesimo onomastico del padre Ferdinando IV, come si legge dalla scritta apposta sulla colonna dal piccolo Ferdinando. Intorno al busto del Re è disposta tutta la famiglia del principe ereditario, che con questa opera non solo voleva omaggiare il sovrano borbonico, raffigurato nel busto ma, anche l'arte di Canova, autore della scultura. E' evidente il carattere grottesco della rappresentazione che Cammarano forse creò volutamente dando vita ad un vero e proprio ritratto caricaturale.Nel dipinto sono raffigurati, da sinistra verso destra, Maria Isabella di Borbone-Spagna (seconda moglie di Francesco I) con in braccio Maria Carolina, Ferdinanda Luisa, Maria Antonia, futura granduchessa di Toscana, Luisa Carlotta abbracciata alla futura regina di Spagna, Maria Cristina, il piccolo Ferdinando II, erede del Regno delle Due Sicilie, Francesco I che regge in braccio Maria Amalia, futura moglie dell'infante Sebastiano di Borbone, Carlo, principe di Capua e Leopoldo, conte di Siracusa. From left to right: Maria Isabella of Spain (Francis I's second wife), Maria Carolina Ferdinanda, Maria Antonietta Granduchess of Tuscany, Luisa Carlotta, Maria Cristina Queen of Spain, Ferdinand II, Maria Amalia, Francis I, Carlo Prince of Capua and Leopold Count of Siracusa.
context_page_description: Maria Isabella of Spain was an infanta of Spain and Queen consort of the Two Sicilies.
context_section_description: In 1815, under Austrian protection, Ferdinand returned to Naples. He suppressed the Sicilian constitution and joined his two kingdoms into that of the Two Sicilies in 1816, bestowing on Francesco the title of Duke of Calabria as heir of the combined kingdoms. Serving as lieutenant in Sicily (1815–20), Francesco and Maria Isabella remained in Sicily, seldom visiting Naples.
  Although she left Spain at an early age, Maria Isabella remained attached to her family and native country. In the autumn of 1818, she visited her parents who were living in exile in Rome. She was still with her mother when Queen Maria Luisa died in January 1819. Maria Isabella was instrumental in the marital choices of the Neapolitan court for her daughters, of whom four (out of six) married members of the Spanish royal family. The first of these marriages took place in April 1819 between her eldest child Luisa Carlotta and Maria Isabella’s younger brother, Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain in a union between niece and uncle.
  During these troubled years Maria Isabella was constantly pregnant. At intervals of less than two years, she gave birth to nine children born in Palermo. She finally returned to Naples with her husband in July 1820. Her father-in-law King Ferdinand was now completely subservient to Austria; an Austrian, Count Nugent, was commander-in-chief of the army. For the next four years her father-in-law reigned as an absolute monarch within his domain, granting no constitutional reforms. In this period, Maria Isabella had two more children born in Naples.
caption: Francis and María Isabella's family in 1820; she is at the far left, holding Maria Carolina Ferdinanda.
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