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A young boy with pale skin, wearing a black suit with densely pattered gold trim and decoration, stands holding an open book in front of a brown background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled slightly to our right, but he looks at us with large, slate-blue eyes. He has a round face, a wide nose, and his full, peach-colored lips are barely parted. Short blond hair falls in tousled bangs across his forehead. A tall, oyster-white collar flares up in a wide V along the sides of his neck. His hip-length, long-sleeved black jacket has gold trim and decoration down the open front, along the bottom hem, and at the cuffs. His pants have a high waist, meeting the buttons of the white shirt at his chest. There are two gold buttons on his pants near the waist, framed by his open jacket. Gold trim continues down the sides of his long pants and around the leg openings. He wears black, loafer-style shoes with gray or white stockings or socks. He is lit from our left so casts a shadow to our right, in the dark brown room in which he stands.

Francisco Goya

Victor Guye, 1810

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 52

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 103.5 x 84.5 cm (40 3/4 x 33 1/4 in.)

framed: 133 x 111.1 x 7.6 cm (52 3/8 x 43 3/4 x 3 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of William Nelson Cromwell

Accession Number

1956.11.1

Artists / Makers

Francisco Goya (painter) Spanish, 1746 - 1828

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

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.

[1]Priscilla Muller, "Goya's Portrait of General Guye", Arts in Virginia, XII, 2 (Winter, 1972), 11 for the provenance of Portrait of Victor Guye and its companion, Portrait of Nicholas Guye, which is currently in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

[2] Aureliano de Beruete y Moret, "Deux portraits inédits de Goya," Les Arts (April 1913): 2-4 repro. 3.

[3] Xavier Desparmet Fitz-Gerald, L'Oeuvre peint de Goya, 4 vols. (Paris, 1928-1950), vol. 2 (of text): 292, no. 551s. Knoedler's ownership in 1915 is established by their 1915 exhibition catalogue. 4. Annotated copy of the Harding sale catalogue at the Frick Art Reference Library, New York; provenance records in the NGA curatorial files. On the sale, see also Helen Comstock "Auction Sales," Connoisseur 108 (1941): 204. The National Portrait Gallery's (Washington) annotated version of the Harding sale catalogue has a purchase price written in the margin, so it is unclear as to whether the painting was bought in or if the Harding children actually purchased it (although the reserve price is often pencilled in the margin when the painting is bought in).

Associated Names

Guye, Nicolas
Guye, Vincent
Harding, Charles B., Mr.
Harding, J. Horace
Harding, Laura, Ms.
Knoedler & Company, M.
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc.
Tailer, Catharine H., Ms.
Trotti et Cie

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.