Concepción Serrano, later Countess of Santovenia

Painted in 1871 and in the Museo del Prado, this portrait of Concepción Serrano — who would later become Countess of Santovenia — was produced during the final three years of Rosales's life, when tuberculosis was progressively limiting his capacity for sustained work even as his reputation reached its zenith. Concepción Serrano moved in the elevated social circles of Madrid's Restoration-era aristocracy, and her eventual title connects her to a noble house with deep Spanish roots. Rosales, though primarily celebrated for history painting, was by 1871 also sought as a society portraitist of the first rank, and this commission testifies to his standing among Madrid's social elite. The painting's loose, confident late manner makes it among the most technically innovative of his portraits — an indication that even as his health declined, his artistic development continued.

The late Rosales portrait technique is at its most assured here: broad, confident strokes build the figure and costume, with the face receiving focused attention within an otherwise painterly free handling. The sitter's fashionable dress is suggested rather than described — its colour and texture implied through directional brushwork rather than meticulous transcription. The background is handled with sweeping, largely undifferentiated tones that allow the figure to stand forward.