Saint François de Borgia fait ses adieux à sa famille

Goya painted this in 1788 for a chapel in Valencia Cathedral, commissioned by the Duchess of Osuna, who was restoring the shrine of her own ancestor, Francis Borgia. Borgia had been Duke of Gandía before he gave up the title to become a Jesuit, and Goya shows him at the moment of departure, taking leave of his family at the palace door. It is one of a pair. Its companion beside it shows Borgia years later, a priest at the bedside of a dying man who refuses to repent, with dark demon shapes waiting in the shadows for his soul. Goya sent the duchess his bill that October, 30,000 reales for the two. The Osuna family were among the patrons who carried his early career.