Goya’s Portraits of the Altamira Family Reunited in Exhibition Opening at Metropolitan Museum April 22

Exhibition Dates: April 22-August 3, 2014
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.

The exhibition is organized by Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, The Frick Collection, New York.

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 conjunction with the opening of the exhibition.