An official in Spain’s War Department, Garcini wears the uniform of the Corps of Engineers in this somewhat puffed up, self-satisfied image. The splayed collar and decorative buttonholes help to animate his formal attire, which was originally more severe: the embroidered red cross and the badge of the Order of Santiago are decorations he received in 1806 and must have been added later. After the French invasion of Spain in 1808, Garcini became a collaborator of the enemy, and in 1811 he wrote the book Chronicle of Spain Since the Reign of Charles IV: Account of the Persecution Suffered by Colonel D. Ignacio Garcini.
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Fig. 1. Painting in frame: overall
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Fig. 2. Painting in frame: corner
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Fig. 3. Painting in frame: angled corner
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Fig. 4. Profile drawing of frame. W 5 5/16 in. 13.5 cm (T. Newbery)
Artwork Details
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Title:Ignacio Garcini y Queralt (1752–1825), Brigadier of Engineers
Artist:Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
Date:1804
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:41 x 32 3/4 in. (104.1 x 83.2 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Harry Payne Bingham, 1955
Accession Number:55.145.1
Colonel Ignacio Garcini y Queralt was born in Tortosa in 1752, the son of Luis Sebastián Garcini and María Micaela Queralt. The Garcini family was of French origin, and Ignacio’s ancestors came from Saint Tropez. Since his youth, Garcini followed a military career and was active in the War Department (Despacho de Guerra). He is shown in the painting wearing the blue and red uniform of a Brigadier of Engineers (Brigadier de Ingenieros) (see Trapier 1964). He was awarded the Order of Santiago in 1806, and the badge and red cross referring to the Order were added to the portrait after that date. During the War of Independence, Garcini took an active part in the Spanish resistance against the French invaders. Between 1808 and 1809 he moved between Guadalajara, Aranjuez, Cordoba and Cádiz. He later collaborated with the French, and after Spain was divided into regional commissariats in 1809 he was nominated military intendant for Soria and Rioja by Joseph Bonaparte (Glendenning 1992). In 1811, Garcini published in Valencia a book entitled Cuadro de la España desde el reinado de Carlos IV. Memoria de la persecución que ha padecido el coronel D. Ignacio Garciny (Chronicle of Spain since the Reign of Charles IV: Account of the Persecution Suffered by Colonel D. Ignacio Garcini), in which he attacked the Spanish general José de Palafox. Garcini died in 1825.
On January 19, 1801, Ignacio Garcini married in Madrid Josefa de Castilla Portugal y van Asbrock, who was also portrayed by Goya in 1804 (The Met 55.145.2). The two portraits are different in mode—martial and formal for Ignacio, unceremonious and romantic for Josefa—and it has recently been questioned whether they were intended to be pendants (Reuter 2001 and Tomlinson 2002). Both portraits, however, date from the same year and it seems likely that notwithstanding their differences in approach they were conceived at the same time. They may have originally been displayed in different spaces in the Garcini household, and that would have compensated for the inconsistency in manner between the two images.
The portraits remained with the Garcini family until 1910, when Vicente Garcini, a nephew of Ignacio, sold both of them, through Ricardo Madrazo, to Colonel Oliver H. Payne in New York. His nephew, Harry Payne Bingham, bequeathed the paintings to the Museum in 1955.
Xavier F. Salomon 2012
Inscription: Signed, dated, and inscribed (lower left): Dn. Ignacio Garcini / por Goya. 1804.
Ignacio Garcini y Queralt, Madrid (1804–d. 1825); Rosa Garcini y Arizcun, Madrid (by 1900–at least 1903); nephew of the sitter, Vicente Garcini, Madrid (by 1910; sold with its pendant [MMA 55.145.2] through Ricardo de Madrazo for Fr 165,000 to Payne); Colonel Oliver H. Payne, New York (1910–d. 1917); his nephew, Harry Payne Bingham, New York (1917–d. 1955)
Madrid. Ministerio de Instrucción Pública y Bellas Artes. "Goya," May 1900, no. 108 (lent by Rosa Garcini y Arizcun).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition," May 8–August 1920, not in catalogue.
New York. Wildenstein. "A Loan Exhibition of Goya," November 9–December 16, 1950, no. 18 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya: Drawings and Prints," May 4–30, 1955, no. 173 (lent by the Estate of Harry Payne Bingham).
Madrid. Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. "Goya, la década de los caprichos: Retratos 1792–1804," October 26, 1992–January 10, 1993, no. 67.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 12–December 31, 1995, unnumbered cat.
Elías Tormo y Monzó. "Las pinturas de Goya (con motivo de la Exposición de sus obras, en Madrid)." Revista de la Asociación Artístico Arqueológica Barcelonesa 2 (July–August 1900), pp. 596, 598, considers the Garcini portraits typical of Goya's style from 1810 until 1817–18.
"La exposición de cuadros de Goya." La Época (May 17, 1900) [reprinted in "Goya 1900: Catálogo ilustrado y estudio de la exposición en el ministerio de instrucción pública y bellas artes," vol. 1, Madrid, 2002, p. 141], mentions it as a notable work in the Madrid 1900 exhibition.
Rafael Balsa de la Vega. "Exposición de obras de Goya." La Ilustración Española y Americana 44 (May 22, 1900) [reprinted in "Goya 1900: Catálogo ilustrado y estudio de la exposición en el ministerio de instrucción pública y bellas artes," vol. 1, Madrid, 2002, pp. 188–89], praises it as capturing the sitter's spirit and personality
.
Gonzalo de Cerrajería. "La exposición de obras de Goya." El País (June 3, 1900) [reprinted in "Goya 1900: Catálogo ilustrado y estudio de la exposición en el ministerio de instrucción pública y bellas artes," vol. 1, Madrid, 2002, p. 199].
Narciso Sentenach. "Notas sobre la exposición de Goya." La España moderna 138 (June 1900), the article appears on pp. 34–53 [reprinted in "Goya 1900: Catálogo ilustrado y estudio de la exposición en el ministerio de instrucción pública y bellas artes," vol. 1, Madrid, 2002, p. 214], calls it one of the most brilliant portraits in the Madrid 1900 exhibition.
Antonio Cánovas y Vallejo. "La exposición de cuadros de Goya." La Época (May 12, 1900) [reprinted in "Goya 1900: Catálogo ilustrado y estudio de la exposición en el ministerio de instrucción pública y bellas artes," vol. 1, Madrid, 2002, p. 165], describes this picture and its pendant as "superior" canvases.
Rafael Balsa de la Vega. "Exposicion de obras de Goya recientemente celebrada en Madrid." La ilustración artistica no. 972 (August 13, 1900) [reprinted in "Goya 1900: Catálogo ilustrado y estudio de la exposición en el ministerio de instrucción pública y bellas artes," vol. 1, Madrid, 2002, p. 250], compares it to portraits by Anthonis Mor and Hans Holbein
.
Francisco Alcántara. El Imparcial (May 10, 1900) [see Ref. Vega 2002], describes Garcini's wife as "a perfect dream of a beauty, a symbol of what her husband's name evokes for all good Spaniards [presumably in light of his role as a traitor during the War of Independence], a lively intelligence and acuteness, with a certain expression of malice and suspicion appropriate for the husband of such a woman".
Paul Lafond. Goya. Paris, [1902], p. 127, no. 110, as in the collection of Rosa Garcini y Arizcun; refers to the Garcini portraits as pendants.
Valerian von Loga. Francisco de Goya. Berlin, 1903, p. 195, no. 220 [2nd ed., 1921], as in the collection of Rosa Garcini y Arizcun.
Albert F. Calvert. Goya, an Account of His Life and Works. London, 1908, p. 134, no. 116, pl. 45, as in the collection of the Garcini family, Madrid.
Retratos de personajes españoles: Índice ilustrado. Madrid, 1914, no. 1254, as in the Payne collection, New York.
A. de Beruete y Moret. Goya: Pintor de retratos. Madrid, 1916, pp. 99, 179, no. 215 [English ed., 1922, pp. 120–21, 212, no. 223], as in the collection of Colonel Payne, New York; calls it a companion to the portrait of Garcini's wife.
"Pictures Lent for the Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15 (August 1920), p. 190, calls it a remarkable, characteristic portrait by Goya, lent by Harry Payne Bingham.
"The Museum's Fiftieth Anniversary: A Memorable Exhibition of Old Masterpieces." New York Tribune (May 9, 1920), p. 5.
"Recent Loans." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (February 1921), p. 40, states that Harry Payne Bingham extended his loan of the Garcini portraits beyond the closing of the MMA Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition.
August L. Mayer. Francisco de Goya. Munich, 1923, p. 191, no. 272, pl. 204 [English ed., 1924, p. 155, no. 272, pl. 204], as on loan to the MMA from the Colonel Payne collection, New York.
Francisco Zapater y Gómez. Colección de cuatrocientas cuarenta y nueve reproducciones de cuadros, dibujos y aguafuertes de Don Francisco de Goya . . . publicadas por Don Francisco Zapater y Gómez en 1860. Madrid, 1924, pl. 84, as in the collection of the Garcini family, Madrid.
Juan Moneva y Puyol. Los retratos que pintó Goya: Conferencia pronunciada en la Agrupación Artística Aragonesa, el año 1926. Saragossa, 1927, p. 13.
Tomás G. Larraya. Goya: Su vida, sus obras. Barcelona, 1928, p. 177, erroneously as in the MMA collection.
X. Desparmet Fitz-Gerald. L'oeuvre peint de Goya: Catalogue raisonné. Paris, 1928–50, vol. 1, p. 27 n. 1; vol. 2, p. 151, no. 438, pl. 357.
R. Gómez de la Serna. Goya. Madrid, [1928], p. 275, erroneously as still in the collection of Colonel Payne.
F. J. Sanchez Canton. Vida y obras de Goya. Madrid, 1951, p. 80 n. 100, p. 170.
"Additions to the Collections." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15 (October 1956), p. 42, ill. p. 45.
Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño. La pintura española fuera de España. Madrid, 1958, p. 170, no. 1009.
Gabriel Rouchès. La peinture espagnole des origines au XXe siècle. Paris, 1958, pp. 420, 423, erroneously as still on loan to the MMA from Colonel Payne's collection.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, p. 178, relates that she secured the two Garcini portraits for Colonel Payne through Ricardo de Madrazo.
Elizabeth du Gué Trapier. Goya and His Sitters: A Study of His Style as a Portraitist. New York, 1964, pp. 25, 54, no. 42, fig. 42, identifies the sitter's uniform as that of the Corps of Engineers and notes that he did not receive the red cross and badge of the Order of Santiago until 1806, so they must have been added to the portrait at a later date; comments that x-rays show that holes were pierced in the eyes and then repainted.
Gaspar Gómez de la Serna. Goya y su España. Madrid, 1969, pp. 166, 283.
Pierre Gassier and Juliet Wilson. Vie et oeuvre de Francisco Goya. Ed. François Lachenal. Fribourg, Switzerland, 1970, pp. 167, 198, no. 820, ill. [English ed., 1971].
José Gudiol. Goya 1746–1828: Biographie, analyse critique et catalogue des peintures. Paris, 1970, vol. 1, pp. 122, 125, 296–97, no. 491; vol. 3, fig. 782 [Spanish ed., 1969–70; English ed., vol. 1, pp. 124, 127, 303, no. 491; vol. 3, fig. 782], notes that this picture marks the first time Goya did not clearly separate figure and background, a characteristic that subsequently appears in many of his portraits.
Rita de Angelis. L'opera pittorica completa di Goya. Milan, 1974, pp. 85, 118, no. 424, ill.
José Camón Aznar. Fran. de Goya. Vol. 3, Saragossa, 1981, p. 147, observes that although it is a commissioned work with a sober composition, Goya's mastery of technique still conveys the gallantry and humanity of his subject.
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez. Goya. Paris, 1989, p. 153, no. 6, ill.
José Valverde Madrid. "Cuatro retratos Goyescos de la sociedad madrileña." Anales del Instituto de Estudios Madrileños 30 (1991), pp. 23, 28, 30, 32, provides biographical information and discusses Garcini's affiliation with the Spanish resistance against the French in Aranjuez; describes this portrait as still within 18th-century tradition, while Goya's portrait of his wife is "already fully romantic".
Nigel Glendinning. Goya, la década de los caprichos: Retratos, 1792–1804. Exh. cat.Madrid, 1992, p. 105 n. 320, p. 132, no. 67, colorpl. 67, observes that the Garcinis were favorites of the court when Goya painted their portraits.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 178, 327 n. 244, the editor relates that Ricardo de Madrazo secured the Garcini portraits from Vicente Garcini, a descendant of the sitters, and first offered them to Louisine Havemeyer, who instead arranged their sale to Colonel Payne for Fr 165,000; remarks that Payne thought Havemayer's version of Goya's portrait of the Princess de la Paz (Shelburne Museum, Vermont) "was finer" than his pair
.
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 252–53, fig. 85.
José Luis Morales y Marín. Goya: Catálogo de la pintura. Saragossa, 1994, pp. 35, 284, no. 347, ill. [English ed., 1997], calls it a conventional, commissioned portrait, although the painting of the head stands out for its great expressiveness.
Janis Tomlinson. Francisco Goya y Lucientes, 1746–1828. London, 1994, pp. 167, 170, 173, colorpl. 129, describes it as a "flat portrayal," less interesting than that of his wife, and adds that "contemporaries knew that the quality of a portrait by Goya depended upon his interest and the time he was willing to devote to it".
Susan Alyson Stein inGoya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1995, pp. 23, 39–40, 45, 67, fig. 11, states that following their loan to the MMA Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition in 1920, the Garcini portraits remained on loan from Harry Payne Bingham until 1927; calls the two portraits "rigorously unsentimental".
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 165, ill.
José Manuel Arnaiz. "Nuevas andanzas de Goya: Falsos y auténticos en el Metropolitan." Galería antiquaria no. 136 (February 1996), p. 43.
Juliet Wilson-Bareau. "Goya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Burlington Magazine 138 (February 1996), p. 101, describes the Garcini portraits as "extremely strange 'pendants'" that should have been reattributed as "not Goya"; finds the inscriptions unconvincing and adds that they were not exhibited until the "notoriously unselective" 1900 Goya exhibition in Madrid.
Isadora Rose-de Viejo inEtched on the Memory: The Presence of Rembrandt in the Prints of Goya and Picasso. Exh. cat., The Rembrandt House Museum. Blaricum, 2000, p. 55, calls it a mechanical, commonplace portrait in comparison to that of his wife.
Anna Reuter inGoya: La imagen de la mujer. Ed. Francisco Calvo Serraller. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2001, p. 256, under no. 67, observes that, atypically for pendant portraits, there is no visual link between the paintings of the Garcinis to suggest their bond as a married couple, since they do not face one another and their dress is incompatible.
Janis A. Tomlinson inGoya: Images of Women. Ed. Janis A. Tomlinson. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2002, pp. 180, 182, under no. 34, fig. 1, calls this a "formulaic likeness" and questions whether the two Garcini portraits were meant to be viewed side by side [see Ref. Reuter 2001].
Jesusa Vega inGoya 1900: Catálogo ilustrado y estudio de la exposicion en el Ministerio de Instrucción Publica y Bellas Artes. Madrid, 2002, vol. 1, pp. 98, 113; vol. 2, p. 212, no. 108, ill. p. 213, quotes Alcántara's remarks about the Garcini portraits [see Ref. Alcántara 1900]
.
Manuela Mena Marqués inGoya: Prophet der Moderne. Ed. Peter-Klaus Schuster et al. Exh. cat., Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Cologne, 2005, p. 222.
Laura D. Corey and Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen. "Visions of Collecting." Making The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 147, 266 n. 76.
The frame and its pendant (on 55.145.2) are from Prussia and date to about 1860 (see figs. 1–4 above). These carved giltwood frames are made of deal or softwood and have mitered corners with applied carved ornament. The cavetto and flat fillet sight edge fall back to a hollow. Crisp alternating acanthus leaves drape over a thin stick and terminate at corner leaves. Angled fillets flank the incised twisted ribbon ornament at the top edge. A deep hollow terminates at an angled faceted fillet projecting slightly from the back edge. The original water gilding includes a pale colored gold on a thin gesso layer with darkened toner. Both Gothic architectural moldings and Grecian neoclassical patterns from the early nineteenth century inspired the design of this frame.
Timothy Newbery with Cynthia Moyer 2016; further information on this frame can be found in the Department of European Paintings files
Barbara Drake Boehm, Paul and Jill Ruddock Curator, explores the legend of Saint James and his shrine in Spain and the many depictions of him in the Met's collection.
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
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