Charles IV in Court Dress

In 1789 Charles IV had just come to the Spanish throne, and Goya, newly named painter to the king, had to turn out official likenesses of the new monarch for institutions across Spain. This full-length was painted between March and June of that year as the companion to his portrait of Queen María Luisa; which room of the new Royal Palace the pair were meant for is not recorded. The king stands in a red coat worked with silver, the Golden Fleece at his collar and a commander's staff in his hand, the standard grammar of royal authority. That same summer, across the Pyrenees, a Paris crowd stormed the Bastille and began pulling down a monarchy much like this one.