LÓPEZ Y PORTAÑA, Vicente
(b. 1772, Valencia, d. 1850, Madrid)

The Painter Francisco de Goya

1826
Oil on canvas, 93 x 75 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

After having trained initially in his hometown, Vicente López moved to Madrid in 1780 to attend the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. Appointed first chamber painter by Ferdinand VII in 1815, López dedicated much of his oeuvre to the portrait genre - the most famous of his portraits is Francisco de Goya, painted in 1826, when the artist was at the age of 80, He was exceptionally gifted in attaining the likenesses of his sitters and in rendering the nuances of fabrics and objects.