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Inscription

on the back of the original fabric (now concealed by the lining): Ce portrait de mon Fils a été peint par Goya pour faire le pendant de celui de mon Frère le Général. Vt Guye. (This portrait of my son was painted by Goya as a pendant to that of my brother the General. V[incen]t Guye.)

Provenance

Commissioned by Nicolas Guye, uncle of the sitter; by gift to Vincent Guye, father of the sitter, who transported the painting from Madrid to Saint-Dié;[1] (Trotti et Cie., Paris), by 1913;[2] (M. Knoedler & Co., Paris, London, and New York), by 1913;[3] purchased in 1916 by J. Horace Harding [1863-1929], New York; his estate, (sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 1 March 1941, 36, no. 59) to his children, Charles B. Harding, Catherine Tailer, and Laura Harding; from whom purchased for NGA by William Nelson Cromwell.

Exhibition History

1915
Loan Exhibition of Paintings by El Greco and Goya for the Benefit of the American Women's War Relief Fund and the Belgian War Relief Fund, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1915, 28, no. 25.
1920
Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1920, unnumbered catalogue.
1928
Spanish Paintings from El Greco to Goya, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1928, 3, no. 16.
1934
Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Goya, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1934, no. 6.
1937
Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints by Francisco Goya (1746-1828), California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1937, 32, no. 24.
1937
Spanish Paintings, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1937, no cat.
1939
Portraits by Masters of the XVI, XVII, XVIII Centuries, James St. L. O'Toole Galleries, New York, 1939, no 15.
1939
The Collection of the Late J. Horace Harding, James St. L. O'Toole Galleries, New York, 1939, 28 (unnumbered).
1941
Paintings, Drawings, and Prints: The Art of Goya, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1941, 54, no. 82.
1943
An Exhibition of Paintings by Living Masters of the Past, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1943, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
1946
On loan to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1946-56.
1950
Goya: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Institute of Fine Arts, Wildenstein, New York, 1950, 19, no. 36.
1953
The Art of Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, 1746-1828, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1953, unpaginated, unnumbered.
1976
Zapadnoevropeiskaia i Amerikanskaia zhivopis is muzeev ssha [West European and American Painting from the Museums of USA], State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; State Pushkin Museum, Moscow; State Museums, Kiev and Minsk, 1976, unpaginated and unnumbered.
1986
Goya: The Condesa de Chinchon and Other Paintings, Prints and Drawings from Spanish and American Private Collections and the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1986-87, unpaginated brochure.
2002
Manet/Velázquez, La manière espagnole au XIXe siècle [Manet/Velázquez, The French Taste for Spanish Painting], Musée d'Orsay, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2002-2003, no. 10, fig. 5.11 (shown only in New York).
2006
Goya e la tradizione italiana, Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Parma, 2006, no. 31, repro.
2008
Goya en tiempos de guerra [Goya in Times of War], Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2008, no. 74, repro.
2014
Goya: Order & Disorder, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2014-2015, no. 49, repro.

Technical Summary

The support is a lightweight, tightly woven fabric, probably linen, lined to a medium-weight, plain-weave fabric. The shallow cusping pattern at the edges of the fabric is visible through the surface paint. The thin, red ground has a pronounced pebbly texture; brushmarks in the ground form a concentric pattern around the figure. X-radiographs do not reveal any pentimenti. The painting is in secure structural condition. The lining has slightly flattened the impasto. Abraded areas of brown paint in the background have been retouched.

Bibliography

1898
Bardy, Henri. "Le général Guye, maire de la ville de Saint-Dié du septembre 1829 au 30 octobre 1830." Bulletin de la société philomatique vosgienne 25 (1989-1899): 132.
1913
Beruete y Moret, Aureliano de. "Deux portraits inédits de Goya." Les arts 136 (April, 1913): 2-4, repro. 3.
1914
Pène du Bois, Guy. "Greco, Goya, and Velasquez: Three Pillars of Spanish Art." Arts and Decoration 5 (1914-1915): 183, repro.
1916
Beruete y Moret, Aureliano de. Goya, pintor de retratos. Madrid, 1915: 120, 180, no. 241, pl. 44 (Also English ed. Translated by Selwyn Brinton. London, 1922: 143, 214, no. 250, pl. 46).
1917
Candee, Helen Churchill. "Certain Goyas in America." Scribner's Magazine 62 (1917): 430, 438, repro. 432.
1923
Mayer, August L. Francisco de Goya. Munich, 1923: 86, 195, no. 319, pl. 205. Translated by Robert West [pseud.]. London, 1924.
1927
Comstock, Helen. "Children's Portraits in European Art." International Studio 86 (February, 1927): 40, repro. 42.
1927
Hosotte, Louis. "Un général comtois du Premier Empire, Nicolas Philippe Guye (1773-1845)." Academie des sciences, belles lettres, et arts de besançon; bulletin (1927): 67.
1928
Desparmet Fitz-Gerald, Xavier. L'oeuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols. Paris, 1928-1950: 2:291, 292, no. 550s, under 551s.
1928
Pantorba, Bernardino de [José López Jiminez]. Goya. Madrid, 1928: 98.
1934
Comstock, Helen. "Loan Exhibition of Goya's Portraits." The Connoisseur 93 (1934): 332-333.
1934
Siple, Ella S. "A Goya Exhibition in America." The Burlington Magazine 64 (1934): 287.
1937
Clifford, Henry. "Great Spanish Painters: A Timely Show." Art News 35 (17 April, 1937): 11.
1941
Comstock, Helen. "Auction Sales." The Connoisseur 108 (1941): 204, repro. 201.
1951
Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier. Vida y obras de Goya. Madrid, 1951: 103, 171. Translated by Paul Burns. Madrid, 1964.
1955
Gassier, Pierre. Goya. Paris, 1955: 95.
1958
Gaya Nuño, Juan Anotonio. La pintura española fuera de España; historia y catàlogo. Madrid, 1958: 175, no. 1059.
1962
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 122, color repro.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 321, repro.
1964
Trapier, Elizabeth du Gué. Goya and His Sitters. New York, 1964: 37, 56, no. 66, figs. 66, 67.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 61.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:346, color repro.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 53, repro.
1970
Gassier, Pierre, and Juliet Wilson. Vie et oeuvre de Francisco Goya. Paris, 1970. Translated by C. Hauch and J. Wilson. New York, 1971: 214, 253, 261, no. 884, repro. 208 (also 1981 ed: 214, 251, 253, 261, no. 884, repro. 208).
1971
Gudiol y Ricart, José. Goya: 1746-1828; Biography, Analytical Study and Catalogue of His Paintings. Translated by Kenneth Lyons. 4 vols. New York, 1971: 1:142, 315, no. 554; 2:fig. 894, color fig. 895.
1971
Muller, Priscilla. "Goya's Portrait of Gen. Nicolas Guye." Art News 70 (December, 1971): 29, 51, repro. 51.
1972
Francisco Goya: Portraits in Paintings, Prints and Drawings. Exh. cat. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1972: no. 15, repro. 27.
1972
Lipschutz, Ilse Hempel. Spanish Painting and the French Romantics. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 12.
1972
Muller, Priscilla. "Goya's Portrait of Nicolas Guye." Arts in Virginia 12 (Winter, 1972): 9-11, fig. 14.
1974
De Angelis, Rita. L'opera pittorica completa di Goya. Milan, 1974: 123, no. 511, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 158, repro.
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 76, pl. 46.
1979
Salas, Xavier de. Goya. Translated by G. T. Culverwell. London, 1979: 123, 190, no. 381, color repro. 103.
1981
Gassier, Pierre. "Goya and the Hugo Family in Madrid." Apollo 114 (1981): 249.
1984
Camón Aznar, José. Francisco de Goya. 4 vols. Saragossa, 1984: 3:184.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 401, no. 570, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 183, repro.
1990
Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 19-21, color repro. 18.
2020
Tomlinson, Janis. A. Goya--A Portrait of the Artist. Princeton, 2020: fig. 232, fig. 27.

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