Exhibition History New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Spanish Paintings from El Greco to Goya," February 17–April 1, 1928, no. 19.
New York. M. Knoedler & Co.. "Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Goya," April 9–21, 1934, no. 1.
Brooklyn Museum. "Exhibition of Spanish Painting," October 4–31, 1935, no. 24.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "A Survey of Spanish Painting through Goya," January 3–31, 1937, no. 19.
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints by Francisco Goya (1746–1828)," June 5–July 4, 1937, no. 3.
New York. World's Fair. "Masterpieces of Art: European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300–1800," May–October 1939, no. 150.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Bache Collection," June 16–September 30, 1943, no. 41.
New York. Wildenstein. "A Loan Exhibition of Goya," November 9–December 16, 1950, no. 3.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya: Drawings and Prints," May 4–May 30, 1955, no. 166.
The Hague. Mauritshuis. "Goya," July 4–September 13, 1970, no. 10.
Paris. Orangerie des Tuileries. "Goya," September 25–December 7, 1970, no. 10.
Venice. Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca' Pesaro [Venice]. "Goya, 1746–1828," May 7–July 30, 1989, no. 25.
Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 13, 1992–April 11, 1993, no. 34.
Stockholm. Nationalmuseum. "Goya," October 7, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 8.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 12–December 31, 1995, unnumbered cat.
Oslo. Nasjonalgalleriet. "Francisco Goya: Maleri, Tegning, Grafikk," February 10–April 14, 1996, no. 6.
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. "Goya: Un regard libre," December 12, 1998–March 14, 1999, no. 19.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Goya: Another Look," April 11–July 11, 1999, unnumbered cat.
Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado. "El retrato español: Del Greco a Picasso," October 20, 2004–February 6, 2005, no. 53.
Berlin. Alte Nationalgalerie. "Goya: Prophet der Moderne," July 13–October 3, 2005, no. 18.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. "Goya: Prophet der Moderne," October 18, 2005–January 8, 2006, no. 18.
Paris. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. "Portraits publics, portraits privés, 1770–1830," October 4, 2006–January 9, 2007, no. 48.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution, 1760–1830," February 3–April 20, 2007, no. 102.
References Valerian von Loga. Francisco de Goya . Berlin, 1903, pp. 40, 201, no. 290, pl. 12 [2nd ed., 1921], as in the collection of Mme Bernstein, Paris.Goya, an Account of His Life and Works . London, 1908, p. 137, no. 193.Francisco Goya: A Study of the Work and Personality of the Eighteenth Century Spanish Painter and Satirist . London, 1914, pp. 252, 333, no. 145, as dated 1784 and in the collection of Mme Bernstein, Paris.Francisco de Goya . Munich, 1923, pp. 59, 197, no. 365 [English ed., 1924, pp. 47, 162, no. 365], calls it perhaps Goya's best children's portrait from the 1780s.American Magazine of Art 19 (April 1928), ill. p. 186.La Renaissance 11 (May 1928), p. 190, ill. p. 191.L'oeuvre peint de Goya: Catalogue raisonné . Paris, 1928–50, vol. 2, pp. 51, 313, 328, no. 332, pl. 259, dates it 1787; notes its sale in 1878.International Studio 91 (September 1928), ill. cover (color).Goya: Su vida, sus obras . Barcelona, 1928, p. 180, erroneously as still in the Bernstein collection.Pantheon 1 (April 1928), ill. p. 191, dates it 1787.A Catalogue of Paintings in the Collection of Jules S. Bache . New York, 1929, unpaginated, ill., notes that in 1924 Henri Bernstein used it as a prop in his play, "La Galerie des Glaces," at the Théâtre du Gymnase, Paris.Art News 27 (April 27, 1929), p. 4, ill. p. 19 (color), comments that "even in this charming likeness of an innocent child [Goya] brings in a cruel and uncanny note".International Studio 95 (January 1930), p. 58, calls it "The Boy with the Bird Cage".Unknown Masterpieces in Public and Private Collections . 1, London, 1930, no. 90, ill., dates it 1787 based on the age of the sitter, costume, and style.Parnassus 3 (December 1931), p. 4.Archivo español de arte y arqueología 7 (1931), p. 176, no. 29, as from the Altamira collection.Connoisseur 93 (May 1934), p. 333, ill.Burlington Magazine 64 (June 1934), p. 287.Art Digest 10 (October 1, 1935), p. 6.Art Digest 11 (January 15, 1937), p. 15, ill.A Catalogue of Paintings in the Bache Collection . under revision. New York, 1937, unpaginated, no. 42, ill.Francisco Goya . Vienna, [1937?], p. 32, colorpl. 3.Magazine of Art 30 (February 1937), p. 113, ill. p. 112.The Living Goya . Boston, 1939, p. 194, ill. p. 177.Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America . New York, 1941, unpaginated, no. 234, ill., date it 1787.Goya . New York, 1941, p. 62, ill. p. 15 (color), dates it soon before Goya's 1792 portrait of Sebastián Martinez.The Enjoyment of Art in America . Philadelphia, 1942, p. 471, pl. 426, date it 1787.A Catalogue of Paintings in the Bache Collection . rev. ed. New York, 1943, unpaginated, no. 41, ill.Art Bulletin 25 (September 1943), p. 257, calls it "Boy in Red," dates it 1786, and discusses it in comparison with Agustín Esteve's "Little Boy with a Dog" (Private collection, Paris).Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1 (June 1943), p. 290.Art Digest 18 (June 1, 1944), p. 6.Burlington Magazine 84 (March 1944), p. 55, ill. (frontispiece), dates it towards the end of the 1780s and states erroneously that it has not been exhibited in the United States.The J. S. Bache Collection . [after 1943], pp. 14, 23, 36.New York Herald Tribune (July 22, 1945), section 4, p. 4, ill., compares it to the portrait of Juan Osorio Alvarez (Cleveland Museum of Art), then attributed to Goya.in Masterpieces in Color at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York . New York, 1945, p. 13, colorpl. 42, dates it probably 1787.Gazette des beaux-arts 29 (February 1946), p. 115, fig. 1 (detail of signature), calls the artist's signature in this picture an intermediary link between those which are integrated into the painting's subject and traditional inscriptions.Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art (June 1947), p. 113, calls the sitter in our painting the cousin of Juan Maria Osorio-Alvarez, whose portrait—ascribed by him to Goya—is in the Cleveland Museum of Art; elsewhere identifies Manuel Osorio's parents as Juan's [confirming that they are actually brothers].Antecedentes, coincidencias e influencias del arte de Goya: Catalogo ilustrado de la exposicion celebrada en 1932 . Madrid, 1947, p. 276.The Book of Costume . New York, 1948, vol. 2, pp. 731–32, no. 2055, ill. (cropped).Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 7 (June 1949), p. 260, ill. cover (color detail) and p. 260, dates it 1787 or 1788 and calls its quiet elegance and formality characteristic of Goya's paintings shortly before he became court painter.Archivo español de arte 22 (October–December 1949), p. 371, pl. 2, dates it 1787 or 1788.in "Los niños en las obras de Goya." Goya (Cinco estudios) . Saragossa, 1949, pp. 77–78, pl. 12 [2nd ed., 1978], tentatively dates it 1787, noting that before Goya, children were depicted in most secular Spanish painting as miniature adults.This I Saw: The Life and Times of Goya . New York, 1949, p. 68, ill. opp. p. 56.Art News Annual , part 2, 49 (November 1950), p. 52, ill. p. 39 (color).Saturne . Paris, 1950, pp. 27–28 [English ed., 1957, pp. 21–23, ill. (color)].Art Digest 25 (November 15, 1950), p. 28, calls it "an exception to the comparative weakness of the earlier portraits" included in the 1950 Wildenstein exhibition.Vida y obras de Goya . Madrid, 1951, pp. 42–43, 168, pl. 24, dates it 1788.Goya . Paris, [1951], pp. 85–86, describes it as capturing "the eternal grace of childhood".Duveen . New York, 1952, pp. 113–16, relates that the Bernsteins sold this picture to a Paris dealer for $50,000 and later Bache bought it from Duveen, at the suggestion of his daughter, Mrs. Gilbert Miller, for $275,000; adds that Gilbert Miller negotiated a lower price, against Bache's wishes [see Refs. Fowle 1976 and Secrest 2004 for different accounts of the sales].Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), p. 5.Goya . New York, 1955, p. 32, ill. p. 10 (color), dates Goya's paintings of children "from 1788 on".Child Portraiture from Bellini to Cézanne . London, 1956, pp. 44–45.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (November 1957), p. 106.Agustin Esteve y Goya . Valencia, 1957, pp. 72, 78, fig. 24, [see Ref. Soria 1943].La pintura española fuera de España . Madrid, 1958, p. 158, no. 885.Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism . 18, June 1960, pp. 484–85, fig. 1.The Economics of Taste . [1], London, 1961, p. 331, states that Duveen bought "Miguel [sic] Osorio da Zuniga (the Little Red Boy)" in 1925 for £10,500 and then sold it to Bache for £33,000 after Bache rejected the original price of £56,000 [but see Refs. Fowles 1976 and Secrest 2004 for a refutation of this account].Studio International 162 (November 1961), p. 194, calls it the "Red Boy" and cites Reitlinger's account [see Ref. Reitlinger 1961] of its sale in 1928 for £33,000, the highest recorded price paid for a Goya.La peinture espagnole . Paris, 1962, pp. 182–83, ill. p. 179 (color).Connoisseur 155 (January 1964), p. 19, notes the "rigidly triangular pattern" of the composition.Goya . New York, [1964], p. 14, dates it about 1788.Goya and His Sitters: A Study of His Style as a Portraitist . New York, 1964, pp. 5–6, 52, figs. 9, 11 (overall and detail), dates it 1788 or 1789; comments that in this picture "there appears, perhaps for the first time in his portraiture, evidence of Goya's originality"; notes that similar cats appear later in Goya's 1799 print series "Los Caprichos".Goya . New York, 1965, pp. 25, 90, ill. opp. p. 90 (color), dates it 1788.Francisco Goya . New York, 1967, pp. 34–35, no. 3, ill., dates it 1787–88 and calls it one of the most famous portraits of children ever painted; notes that "all motion is suspended, but one can easily imagine all hell breaking loose in the next instant, when those monstrously intent cats, foreboding evil, jump at the magpie and tear apart the fragile birdcage, creating disorder and early sorrow... By introducing the dark forces of evil Goya gave poignancy to his portrayal of innocent youth".Goya y su España . Madrid, 1969, pp. 60, 279.Archivo español de arte 43 (July–September 1970), p. 361.Revue du Louvre et des musées de France 20 (1970), p. 256, ill. p. 255, dates it about 1787.Goya . Exh. cat., Mauritshuis. The Hague, 1970, unpaginated, no. 10, ill. and frontispiece (color) [Dutch and French eds., 1970].Revue du Louvre et des musées de France 20 (1970), p. 254, mentions it as an influence on Renoir's picture "Jean Renoir déguisé en clown rouge" [sic for "The Clown (Claude Renoir)," 1909, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris].Pantheon 28 (November–December 1970), p. 535.Goya (November–December 1970), p. 167.in Vie et oeuvre de Francisco Goya . Fribourg, Switzerland, 1970, pp. 61, 68, 78, no. 233, ill. p. 95 [English ed., 1971], date it about 1788; note that Goya painted six official portraits for the Bank of San Carlos between 1785–88, including that of the Count of Altamira, which led to commissions for portraits of the Count's wife and daughter, and two sons, Vicente and Manuel Osorio.Goya 1746–1828: Biographie, analyse critique et catalogue des peintures . Paris, 1970, vol. 1, pp. 68, 70, 256, no. 251; vol. 2, figs. 355, 356 (color detail) [Spanish ed., 1969–70; English ed., 1971, vol. 1, pp. 70, 73, 262, no. 251; vol. 2, figs. 355, 356 (color detail)], calls it "almost primitive in its essential scheme"; erroneously claims that the sitter became "a person of great influence in later life".L'Oeil (October 1970), pp. 10–11, fig. 15, comments that the parallel between the cats' fixed stares and the sitter's lost expression fosters a sense of ambiguity and psychological depth.Art News 69 (October 1970), p. 56.Art International 14 (December 1970), p. 57, remarks that the Orangerie exhibition in 1970 [see Exh. Paris 1970] was the first time this painting was seen in France.Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 1970, p. 316 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].Goya (September–October 1972), p. 107.New York State Journal of Medicine (February 1, 1972), pp. 413–14, fig. 1 [reprinted in Leonardo, vol. 6, Spring 1973, pp. 157–61], observes a sinister note in this picture, apparent in some of Goya's pre-1792 paintings; ascribes the change in Goya's work after his illness of 1792–93 to the mind altering effects of lead-poisoning contracted from white pigment.New York Times (February 28, 1972), p. 33, ill., in an interview, Niederland [see Ref. Niederland 1972] cites the sinister looking cats in this picture as an early indication of Goya's "premorbid personality structure" caused by brain damage from lead-based paints.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 31 (Summer 1973), p. 174, ill., dates it about 1787 and calls it an example of Goya's early pictures which were highly colored in the 18th-century rococo fashion.L'opera pittorica completa di Goya . Milan, 1974, pp. 84, 87, 102–03, no. 229, ill., dates it 1788.Memories of Duveen Brothers . London, 1976, pp. 149–50, recounts buying this painting from Bernstein through the intermediary Henri Bardac, for Fr 450,000 and £9,000, on the condition that it remain on loan for Bernstein's play; refutes Behrman's account [Ref. 1952] of Duveen's reducing the sale price for Bache and remarks "he knew that if he did not purchase the picture, it would have been bought at once by Andrew Mellon".Goya . London, 1977, pp. 11, 24, colorpl. 1 and ill. cover (color), dates it about 1788 and says that it was paired with a portrait of another brother, Juan María, attributed to Esteve (Cleveland Museum of Art); observes that 18th-century English portraits also depicted children with their pets and relates these cats to the monsters in Goya's "St. Francisco de Borja" (about 1788; Valencia Cathedral).in "Cages, Prisons, and Captives in Eighteenth-Century Art." Images of Romanticism: Verbal and Visual Affinities . New Haven, 1978, pp. 18–19, fig. 9, states that in 18th-century children's portraits, a caged bird symbolizes childhood innocence; observes in this picture "a stillness like the quiet before an execution".Goya: The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art . New York, 1979, pp. 180, 193, 230, 232, 234, fig. 112, compares it to Velázquez's "Infante Philip Prosper" (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) in which he sees "Velázquez's instinctive desire to enshrine the innocent, fragile boy in a protective interior where all is warm, soft, and benevolent," a direct contrast to the unsettling emptiness of space in Goya's picture; interprets Manuel Osorio's detached stare as deliberate ignorance of the impending doom of his pet bird and remarks that "more than a hundred years before Freud, Goya penetrates the innocence of children's appearance to portray the latent ambiguities and curiosity about death and pain that dwell in every child".Arts Magazine 55 (December 1980), pp. 107, 112, 114, 117, fig. 10, dates it about 1788; calls it a "forthright symbolic portrait about human destiny," interpreting the birdcage as the confinement and protection of childhood, the three cats as Fortune, Time, and the Fates, and the magpie holding Goya's calling card as Destiny, its fate, like Goya's artistic future, dependent on Fortune.in "Convention and Character in Goya's Portraits." Biography in the 18th Century . New York, 1980, p. 171 n. 16, pp. 183–84, compares it to Goya's portrait of Manuel's brother, Vicente (Private collection, Switzerland).The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 1980, pp. 394, 398, fig. 716 (color).Apollo 114 (October 1981), pp. 239, 247 n. 11, comments that the Altamira family portraits are among Goya's most conventional, except for the "strong hint of real life" and sense of irony in Manuel Osorio's; suggests that the Altamiras were not happy with this picture since it was the last work they commissioned from Goya.Goya dans les collections suisses . Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 1982, p. 38, contrasts the portraits of Manuel and Vicente Osorio, calling Manuel an "éclatant de fraîcheur".Goya and the Art of His Time . Exh. cat., Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University. Dallas, 1982, p. 84, fig. 37, comments that the central figure in Esteve's "Four Children" (The Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston) is derived from the type of child portrait exemplified by this picture; notes that the bird is a traditional symbol of the soul.in "European Paintings of the 16th , 17th, and 18th Centuries." The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings . part 3, 1982, p. 482.in Goya en las colecciones madrileñas . Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 1983, pp. 64, 92, fig. 21 (color) [French translation of this essay is published in "Goya," Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Belgium, 1985], dates it about 1788 and calls it one of the best child portraits of all time.Goya: Témoin de son temps . Secaucus, 1983, pp. 114, 120, fig. 65 [French ed., 1983], dates it about 1788.Francisco Goya: Form und Gehalt seiner Kunst . Freren, Germany, 1983, p. 118, mentions this "puppet like" sitter as an example of the separation between the physical and psychological in Goya's portraits.in Manet, 1832–1883 . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, pp. 76, 301 [French ed., 1983], cites this picture as an influence on Manet's painting "Boy with a Sword" (1861; MMA 89.21.2), noting that in both works a child is standing among "attributes that reflect the values of adults".Representations of Revolution (1789–1820) . New Haven, 1983, pp. 358, 361, fig. 90, compares the bird among the cats in this picture to the artist among the monsters in the print "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters" ("Caprichos," pl. 43, 1799) and to Christ among the mob in "The Taking of Christ" (1798; Toledo Cathedral).Arts Magazine 57 (January 1983), p. 78, dates it about 1788 and notes that the three cats "would appear in a later avatar as hungry, frightening beasts, in the print series known as 'Los Caprichos'".Metropolitan Children . New York, 1984, p. 67, ill. (color).Eighteenth-Century Studies 18 (Spring 1985), p. 341, fig. 2, dates it 1788; comments that the tension between the bird and cats in this picture predicts the grotesque elements characterizing Goya's works from the late 18th century, such as the print series "Los Caprichos" from 1799.Goya d'or et de sang . Paris, 1986, pp. 58, 61, ill. p. 61 (color).Konsthistorisk tidskrift 56 (1987), pp. 145–56, figs. 1, 1a, 1b (overall and details), cites the recently discovered baptismal record of the sitter, as well as the record of his death in 1792; dates this portrait about 1787–88 or posthumously in 1792, suggesting that either the emblematic accessories were added to an earlier portrait after the sitter's death or that this picture supercedes an earlier one painted from life; discusses the cats, caged birds, and magpie in relation to images and verses in emblem-books of the period, viewing them as symbols of capricious destiny and the inherent instability of the world, noting that "particularly prone to imminent disaster are the most 'sharp-witted' and 'beautiful' male offspring".Capolavori impressionisti dei musei americani . Exh. cat., Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. Milan, 1987, p. 54, cites the influence of this work on Manet's "Boy with a Sword" (MMA 89.21.2).Biennale des antiquaires no. 439 (September 1988), p. 92, ill. p. 93 (detail), dates it about 1787-88.Goya: In Pursuit of Patronage . London, 1988, pp. 126, 132, 135, 137–38, ill. p. 127, dates it about 1788 and remarks on the "incipient violence at the feet of Manuel Osorio".Goya (July–October 1989), p. 104, ill. p. 103 (color).in Goya, 1746–1828 . Exh. cat., Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca' Pesaro [Venice]. Milan, 1989, pp. 106, 240, no. 25, ill. in color (cover and p. 107), dates it 1788.Goya . Paris, 1989, p. 58, fig. 4 (color), comments on the sitter's sad expression and notes that Goya considered cats symbols of evil and childhood as vulnerable to all dangers.Francisco Goya: The Tapestry Cartoons and Early Career at the Court of Madrid . Cambridge, 1989, pp. 138, 147, 168, 253 n. 54, fig. 89, notes that "the authority with which Goya endows the offspring of his aristocratic patrons, also seen in the well-known "Manuel Osorio," distinguishes his portraiture of children . . . within a period of social transition, their appeal is founded on the reassurance they offer of the perpetuity of lineage"; regards the birdcage as a symbol of childhood innocence that "betrays Goya's interest in the iconography of the ages of man during this period".La peinture espagnole . Paris, 1990, p. 114, ill. p. 115 (color), suggests that the sense of forboding in this picture was a premonition by Goya of the looming political crisis in Spain that would effect aristocratic families like the Altamiras; considers the cats and birds precursors of the beasts in Goya's "Los Caprichos" and "Desastres de la guerra".Art News 89 (Summer 1990), pp. 134–35, quotes Everett Fahy's description of this painting as "pure Mozart . . . the early Goya, before he really plumbs the depth of the human soul".Goya . Paris, 1992, p. 132, ill. between pp. 272–73.Colnaghi in America: A Survey to Commemorate the First Decade of Colnaghi New York . New York, 1992, p. 88, compares it to a 1740s portrait of a young boy by Pierre-Hubert Subleyras in which a standoff between a dog and cat suggests a "hint of violence".in From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York . Exh. cat., National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. Athens, 1992, pp. 16, 26, 37–38, 308, no. 34, ill. (color).Apollo 135 (January 1992), pp. 12–20, colorpl. 1, interprets the picture's iconography in an 18th-century context, and finds allusions to the Christ Child and to the Passion.Goya (July–October 1994), pp. 45–47, fig. 1, considers it a posthumous portrait dating from 1792; connects the iconography of the tied magpie with similar images from an emblem-book by Sebastián de Covarrubias, edited in 1610.Goya: Catálogo de la pintura . Saragossa, 1994, p. 204, no. 178, ill. [English ed., 1997], dates it 1788.Francisco Goya y Lucientes, 1746–1828 . London, 1994, pp. 65–66, 73, figs. 44–45 (color, overall and detail), suggests that the string attached to the bird was a pictorial device added by Goya as an afterthought; calls it Goya's "last overtly emblematic portrait" and notes that "such a menagerie probably alludes to innocence protected (the caged birds), and its inevitable loss (symbolized by the cats ready to pounce)"; wonders if Goya "complicated the image, perhaps in an attempt to parade his capacity as an intellectual artist".New York Times (September 15, 1995), p. C30.Art Newspaper no. 51 (September 1995), p. 12.in Goya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1995, pp. 14, 45, 55, 57, 67, fig. 1 (color), color detail on front cover, and fig. 27 (installation view).Galeria antiquaria no. 136 (February 1996), pp. 43–44, ill. p. 40 (color).Dossier de l'art (December 1996), p. 44, ill. in color: p. 45, and details (on front cover and p. 44), dates it about 1787 and calls it a mysterious picture that might be read in terms of Christian symbolism and allegory.Connaissance des arts no. 527 (April 1996), p. 60, fig. 1 (color), dates it 1787.in Goya: 250 aniversario . Exh. cat.Madrid, 1996, p. 410 under no. 140.Burlington Magazine 138 (February 1996), p. 102, observes that it "reveals the care Goya took with the presentation of even his youngest sitters" but laments the current condition of the picture which has lost Goya's original "finishing touches," particularly its colored glazes.in Goya: Un regard libre . Exh. cat., Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. Paris, 1998, pp. 61, 70, 156, 158, no. 19, ill. pp. 157, 159, and on cover (color, overall and detail), interprets the iconography of this picture in terms of destiny, the Christ child, the Passion, and premature death; comments that such an image could not be made without the agreement of the sitter's family and wonders if it was intended for Manuel, as the younger son, to devote his life to the church.in Charles Sterling et al. "Fifteenth- to Eighteenth-Century European Paintings." The Robert Lehman Collection . 2, New York, 1998, p. 183.The Private Collector and the Public Institution . [Toronto], 1998, p. 21, notes that Duveen lent this portrait on approval to Woods, whose wife could not bear to see the three cats staring at the magpie every morning as she descended the stairs.Goya . London, 1998, pp. 119–20, fig. 76 (color), compares it to Velázquez's pictures of dwarves and relates the cats to the monsters in Goya's 1788 paintings for the Valencia Cathedral.Goya: Another Look . Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1999, p. 38, ill. p. 43 (color), dates it 1788 and calls it "one of the most fetching and winsome children's portraits of all time".Burlington Magazine 141 (April 1999), p. 248, mentions as particularly interesting the interpretation of this sitter as a "new Emmanuel" [see Ref. Augé et al. 1998].Goya . New York, 2003, p. 115, ill. p. 114 (color), sees it as an "example of Goya's awareness of how contingent life is".I, Goya . Munich, 2004, pp. 66, 69, ill. p. 67 (color), dates it about 1788 and calls it "an ambivalent, even multivalent enigma".in The Spanish Portrait: From El Greco to Picasso . Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. London, 2004, pp. 210, 356–57, no. 53, ill. p. 228 (color) [Spanish ed., 2004], dates it 1788; believes this portrait represents Enlightenment theories about children's education.Duveen: A Life in Art . New York, 2004, pp. 200–201, 446.in Goya: Prophet der Moderne . Exh. cat., Alte Nationalgalerie [Berlin]. Cologne, 2005, pp. 27–28, calls the artist's calling card in the magpie's beak an example of Goya's habit of inserting himself into a picture when he felt a personal association; since the magpie is bound to the boy by the string, questions whether the artist's role is one of outsider or partner in this game of perpetrator and victim.in Goya: Prophet der Moderne . Exh. cat., Alte Nationalgalerie [Berlin]. Cologne, 2005, pp. 14, 110, no. 18, ill. p. 111 (color), suggests this picture was hung in the Altamira home to teach the children about potential dangers [and see Ref. Mena Marqués 2004].in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne . Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2006, pp. 20–22 [Catalan ed., Barcelona, 2006, p. 19].in Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution, 1760–1830 . Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 2007, pp. 184, 202, 327, no. 102, ill. p. 203 (color) [French ed., Portraits publics, portraits privés, 1770–1830, Paris, 2006, no. 48].in Goya en tiempos de guerra . Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2008, p. 220.
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