Self-Portrait; wearing a top hat facing left within a drawn frame (recto); two studies of his face (verso)

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish
Sitter Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish

Not on view

In this preparatory drawing for the first print in the Caprichos (50.558.33), Goya wears the latest French fashions. Adopted by the emerging Spanish middle class in the 1790s, this style of dress served as a sign of both prosperous respectability and receptiveness to foreign influences. His expression suggests his critical stance toward the vices and errors he satirized in the images that followed in the Caprichos. The mannered way he represents himself—including the narrowed eyes and curved lips—also reflects his knowledge of popular and influential treatises on physiognomy and expression.

Self-Portrait; wearing a top hat facing left within a drawn frame (recto); two studies of his face (verso), Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux), Red chalk (recto), pen and ink and red chalk (verso) on laid paper

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