Exhibition Location: European Paintings, Gallery 624, 2nd floor
Press preview: Monday, April 21, 10:00 a.m.-noon
By special arrangement with the Banco de España, from April 22 through August 3, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reunite for the first time four portraits painted by Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) that were commissioned by the Count of Altamira, who was a director of the bank. Goya and the Altamira Family will consist of Banco de España’s portrait of the Count of Altamira; the Metropolitan’s beloved Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga, the so-called “Red Boy;” the beautiful portrait of Manuel’s mother and sister, Condesa de Altamira and Her Daughter, María Agustina, from the Metropolitan Museum’s Robert Lehman Collection; and a portrait of Manuel Osorio’s brother Vicente Joaquin de Toledo, from a private collection. All four portraits were painted between 1786 and 1788 when Goya was beginning to experiment with aristocratic portraiture. A fifth portrait depicting Count Altamira’s middle son, Juan María Osorio, was painted around the same time by Agustín Esteve, one of Goya’s pupils, and will be lent by the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The exhibition is made possible by the Placido Arango Fund.
It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art with the assistance of the Consulate of Spain in New York.
The Banco de San Carlos (the present-day Banco de España) commissioned Goya to
create a series of portraits of the directors of the bank in Madrid, including the full-length depiction of Vicente Joaquín Osorio Moscoso y Guzmán, Count of Altamira. It was the success of this portrait that led to the subsequent commission to Goya for three portraits of members of the count’s family.
Exhibition Credits
The exhibition is organized by Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, The Frick Collection, New York.
Publication
The exhibition will be accompanied by a Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin written by
Xavier F. Salomon. Based on new research, it will examine Goya’s relationship with the Altamira family and chart the history of the paintings. It will be published in April in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition.
The publication is made possible through the generosity of the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, established by the cofounder of Reader’s Digest.
Additional support has been provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.
Related Programs
Education programs will include a Sunday at the Met event on April 27, 2014, a Start with Art Plus family program on May 25, 2014, and exhibition tours.
Additional information about the exhibition and its accompanying programs is available on the Museum’s website at www.metmuseum.org.
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April 10, 2014