La familia de Carlos IV

Goya began this royal group portrait in 1800 and finished it the next summer, not long after he had been named First Court Painter, the top job an artist could hold in Spain. He arranged thirteen members of the family in their finest silks and jewels, the king and queen front and center. He also borrowed a trick from Velázquez, whose Las Meninas hung in the same palace. Off to the left, half in shadow, Goya painted himself at his easel, watching. What has fascinated people ever since is how unflinching the faces are. Nobody is flattered. One 19th-century critic joked it looked like the corner baker and his wife had just won the lottery. Others insist Goya could not have kept his post by mocking the very people paying him, and that this is simply how he saw them. The queen, Maria Luisa, stands at the exact middle, which tells you who really ran the court.