- Cronología
- Ca. 1804 - 1808
- Ubicación
- Private collection, París, France
- Dimensiones
- 112 x 80 cm
- Técnica y soporte
- Oil on canvas
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Undisputed work
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 21 Mar 2010 / 16 Jun 2023
Along with the portrait of Clara Soria, in 1900 this work belonged to the Rothschild family in the castle of Ferrières, on the outskirts of Paris. Both paintings were confiscated by the Nazis in 1941, with that of the Soria boy ending up in the hands of Hitler himself, whilst that of Clara was appropriated by minister Goering. In 1945, the Americans recovered them from a salt mine in Salzburg.
Unlike other portraits of children by Goya, both this work and its pair, Clara de Soria, stand apart in that the painter has represented the children as if they were adults, posing like grown-ups, with no props or toys to distract them.
The boy is shown dressed in a long overcoat with large buttons and a wide collar. In his left hand he holds a hat and a long cape covers him all the way down to his feet. Of interest is his long curly hair, which looks more like a wig than the natural hair of a child. In front of a neutral background, he looks distractedly off to the side, without paying the slightest attention to the painter.
Its grey, golden and red tones make this portrait one of the very best by the Aragonese painter.
-
L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 volsParís1928-1950p. 67, cat. 348
-
Chefs d'ouvre de la vie retrouvéeArt et style1946
-
Goya. Antecedentes, Coincidencias e Influencias del arte de GoyaMadridSociedad Española de Amigos del Arte1947pp. 36 y 37
-
Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p. 199, cat. 832
-
BarcelonaPolígrafa1970vol. I, p. 332, cat. 519
