Carlos IV of Spain and His Family is an oil on canvas painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...

 completed in the summer of 1800. It features life sized depictions of Charles IV of Spain

Charles IV of Spain

Charles IV was King of Spain from 14 December 1788 until his abdication on 19 March 1808.-Early life:...

 and his family, ostentatiously dressed in fine costume and jewellery. The painting was modeled after Velázquez's

Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...

 Las Meninas

Las Meninas

Las Meninas is a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures...

when setting the royal subjects in a naturalistic and plausible setting.

As in Las Meninas, the royal family is apparently paying a visit to the artist's studio, while Goya can be seen to the left looking outwards towards the viewer. In both, the artist is shown working on a canvas, of which only the rear is visible. However, the atmospheric and warm perspective of the palace interior of Velázquez's work is replaced in the Goya by a sense of, in the words of Gassier, "imminent suffocation" as the royal family are presented by Goya on a "stage facing the public, while in the shadow of the wings the painter, with a grim smile, points and says: 'Look at them and judge for yourself!'"

Sitters

The barely visible man in the background shadows at the left is Goya. Others, left to right, are Carlos Maria Isidro (1788-1855); the future Fernando VII (1784-1833); Maria Josefa

Infanta Maria Josefa of Spain

Maria Josefa of Spain was a Princess of Naples and Sicily by birth. At the accession of her father to the Spanish throne as Charles III, she became an Infanta of Spain. Born and raise in Naples, she arrived in Spain with her family in October 1759, at age fifteen...

 (1744-1801), sister of Carlos IV; an unknown woman; María Isabel

Maria Isabella of Spain

María Isabella of Spain was an Infanta of Spain and the Queen of the Two Sicilies. She was the second wife of Francis I and the youngest surviving daughter of the Spanish king Charles IV and his consort Maria Luisa of Parma...

 (1789-1848); Maria Luisa of Parma

Maria Luisa of Parma

Maria Luisa of Parma was Queen consort of Spain from 1788 to 1808 as the wife of King Charles IV of Spain. She was the youngest daughter of Duke Philip of Parma and his wife, Louise-Élisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of King Louis XV.She was christened Luisa Maria Teresa Ana, but was known...

 (1751-1819); Francisco de Paula

Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain

Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain was the youngest son of Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma.-Marriage and children:...

 (1794-1848); Charles IV (1748-1819); Don Antonio Pascual

Infante Antonio Pascual of Spain

200px|thumb|Infante Antonio Pascual, painted by [[Francisco de Goya|Goya]].Antonio Pascual de Borbón y Wettin was an infante of Spain, son of King Charles III of Spain and younger brother of King Charles IV of Spain and Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.-Biography:Born Antonio Pascual Francisco...

, brother of the King (1755-1817); Carlota Joaquina (1775-1830, only part of head visible); Don Luis de Parma

Louis of Etruria

Louis was the first of only two Kings of Etruria.Louis was the son of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma and Maria Amalia of Austria, the second surviving daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor....

 (1773-1803) and his wife Maria Luisa (1782-1824), holding baby Carlos Luis

Charles II, Duke of Parma

Charles Louis of Bourbon-Parma was King of Etruria , Duke of Lucca , and Duke of Parma .-Early life and marriage:...

(1799-1883), the future Duke of Parma.

Sources

• Buchholz, Elke Linda. Francisco de Goya. Cologne: Könemann, 1999. ISBN 3-8290-2930-6
• Gassier, Pierre. Goya. Rizzoli International Publications, 1989. ISBN 0-8478-1108-5
• Gassier, Pierre. Goya: Biographical and Critical Study. New York: Skira, 1995. 69–73