Self-Portrait

This is the artist’s first known self-portrait. It was painted shortly after his arrival in Madrid, following an invitation from Mengs to work as a cartoonist at the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara. In creating it, he used as a model one of the self-portraits that Anton Rafael Mengs painted during his two stays in Spain, possibly the one he painted in 1773. Goya was twenty-nine years old and painted it to establish himself as an artist, using the most prominent painter of the time at Court as his model.

It is a highly realistic self-portrait depicting him in a pretentious and self-assured pose, with his long black hair falling over his shoulders and his winter riding jacket made of dark woollen cloth. The light highlights his facial features and the expressiveness of his eyes and lips. It was painted with great skill and meticulousness, applying the paint in long brushstrokes, in the style of Mengs. He was already demonstrating his splendid qualities as a portraitist.