El general José de Urrutia

General Jose de Urrutia was a rare thing in the Spanish army, a man who climbed to field marshal, its highest rank, without a drop of noble blood. He had fought at the great siege of Gibraltar, and Catherine the Great of Russia decorated him for a campaign against the Ottomans. Goya painted him in 1798, the very year Urrutia was pushed out of all his posts after falling out with Manuel Godoy, the king's powerful favourite. Something of that shows in the face, dignified and hard and a little guarded. Goya gives him his uniform, sword and decorations, then keeps looking past them to the man. He borrowed the grand full-length pose from English portraits he knew only through prints.