Goya is regarded as a remarkable portrait painter with the rare ability to move beyond physical appearances to capture the essence of a sitter. During his long career he produced a number of self-portraits of which, this is one of the most powerful. Goya looks directly at the viewer with mesmerizing intensity. Yet the portrait seems to be somewhat introspective, a close examination of himself, conveying emotional clarity and precision. Between October 1792 and February 1793 Goya suffered a serious illness which left him profoundly deaf for the rest of his life. Deprived of his hearing, the interior world that Goya must have inhabited is well expressed in this portrait, where the intensity of his thoughts seem manifest in his gaze. The head is the only carefully resolved part of the sheet, his garments are only lightly indicated. The badge attached to his lapel is inscribed with his name ‘Goya’. The purpose of the drawing is not known. It might have been made purely through self-reflection and his desire to capture his physical likeness reflecting his psychological state, or possibly as a sheet to give to a friend or even, as an idea to later develop into a print.
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Signature: Lower center upside down in wash: "Goya."
Inscription: Numbered in pen and dark brown ink, upper right: "1." [pertaining to Fortuny Album, no.1]
Javier Goya y Bayeu, (from 1828); Mariano Goya y Goicoechea (Spanish), (from 1854); Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (Spanish), (from ca. 1855–1863); Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, (by gift in 1894)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Francisco Goya: His Paintings, Drawings and Prints," January 27–March 8, 1936.
Washington D.C. National Gallery of Art. "Goya: Drawings and Prints," April 2–April 24, 1955.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya: Drawings and Prints," May 4–30, 1955.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Old Master Drawings from American Collections," April 29, 1976–June 13, 1976.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment," January 18–March 26, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment," May 9–July 16, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 12–December 31, 1995.
The Frick Collection, New York. "Goya's Last Works," February 22, 2006–May 14, 2006.
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. "Goya en tiempos de guerra," April 14, 2008–July 13, 2008.
London. National Gallery. "Goya: The Portraits," October 7, 2015–January 10, 2016.
Museo Nacional del Prado. "Drawings by Goya," November 19, 2019–February 16, 2020.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya’s Graphic Imagination," February 8–May 2, 2021.
Gassier and Wilson 1971, no. 666; Gassier 1973, no. 331 [502]
Valentin Carderera "Les dessins de Goya." in Gazette des Beaux-Arts. vol. 7, Paris, 1860, Vol. VII, 222–27.
Valerian von Loga Drei Briefe Goyas, in Kunst und Künstler. VI, 1908, 65, ill.
Francisco Goya : his paintings, drawings and prints. Exh. cat.: MMA January 27 - March 8. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1936.
Harry B. Wehle "Fifty Drawings by Francisco Goya." MMA Papers no. 7. New York, 1938, p. 7 and Frontispice (illustrated).
Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1952, 69, 222, ill.
Jacob Bean 100 European Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1964, no. 92, ill.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, part II, p. 114, fig. 666 (ill and listed); p. 164 (mentioned).
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974, no. 23, repr., fig. no. 23.
Pierre Gassier The Drawings of Goya. 1975, p. 502 , no. 331.
Ebria Feinblatt Old Master Drawings from American Collections. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 1976, p. 215, fig. 229.
Margret Stuffmann Goya Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik. Exh. cat., Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main, 13. Februar bis 5. April. 1981.
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Eleanor Sayre Goya y espíritu de la ilustración. Spanish edition of exhibition catalogue: Madrid-Boston-New York, 1988. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Spanish. Spain, 1988, (Drawing not exhibited in Madrid), cat. no. 34, 200-201.
Priscilla E. Muller Goya y el espíritu de la ilustración [Exhibition Catalogue] by Alphonso E. Pérez Sánchez;Eleanor A. Sayre; Goya and the Spirit of the Enlightenment [Exhibition Catalogue]. Master Drawings. Vol. 27, No. 4, 1989, 374-75.
Juliet Wilson Bareau, Tom Lubbock Goya: Drawings From His Private Albums. Exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, February 22-May 13, 2001. London, 2001, fig. no. 1, ill.
A. Schulz Goya's Last Works by Jonathan Brown; Susan Grace Galassi Master Drawings. Vol. 45, No. 3, 2007, pp. 395–96, no. 1, ill.
Manuela Mena Marqués Manuela B. Mena Marqués, Manuela Mena Marqués Manuela B. Mena Marqués, Museo Nacional del Prado Goya en tiempos de guerra. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2008, entry by Manuela B. Mena Marquès, cat. no. 10, 150–51.
Jonathan Brown, Lisa A. Banner, A. Schulz et al. The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya. Exh. cat., The Frick Collection, New York (October 5, 2010 - January 9, 2011). New York, 2010, pp. 120-21, fig. 32 (entry by Andrew Schultz), ill.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Mark McDonald), cat. no. 8, pp. 80–81, ill.
Assistant Curator Allison Rudnick presents the next eight artworks that will be on view in The Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery to celebrate the collection of the Department of Drawings and Prints.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
