Daughter of Count Adolfo of Wagensperg, who had become governor of Trieste in 1773, Maria Luisa had married Count Federico Lantieri in 1764, by whom she had two daughters, Amalia and Aloisa.
The noblewoman was known for her great beauty, remembered with regret and admiration by Giacomo Casanova in his memoirs. Goethe himself was struck by her charm, to the point of dedicating a few verses to her and mentioning a brief encounter in Naples in 1777 in his Italian Journey.
The presence of the painting in the Coronini collections is explained by the fact that the eldest daughter, Amalia, was the mother of Michele Coronini Cronberg, born from her marriage to Count Gian Carlo.
