Ferdinand VII (1784–1833), Prince of Asturias

Around 1800 Goya was preparing the huge group portrait of King Charles IV and his family, and he worked the way he often did, sitting each person alone, fixing the face first and leaving the coat barely blocked in. This is one of those studies. The boy is Ferdinand, the 16-year-old heir, and only his head is truly finished. Below it the dark jacket dissolves into rough paint. Across his chest he already wears three orders of chivalry, the Golden Fleece among them. Long treated as a copy, the picture is now read as Goya's own preparatory work, and the sitter would grow into one of the most reactionary kings Spain ever had.