The beautiful Spanish maiden Florinda (centre left) and her companions prepare to bathe in the grounds of her Castle near Toledo, unaware that King Rodrigo watches from the bushes nearby. The sixteenth-century ballad, La Cava, tells how Rodrigo’s subsequent seduction of Florinda ultimately led to the Arab invasion of Spain. The painting was hung in the Queen’s Sitting Room at Osborne.

Purchased by Queen Victoria and presented to Prince Albert on his birthday, 26 August 1852

No. 62