Self-portrait

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art