O Conde de Fernán Núñez

Goya painted this full-length in 1803, near the height of his run as Spain's most sought-after portraitist, with the countess done as its companion piece. The young Count of Fernan Nunez stands wrapped almost entirely in a long dark cloak, only his face, one gloved hand and his boots catching the light against a dim landscape and sky. It is a strikingly modern, almost Romantic pose. Goya lets the figure read as a single dark silhouette rather than dressing him up in the usual display of rank and finery. He was by then deaf, having lost his hearing about a decade earlier after a severe illness, and increasingly he showed his sitters as particular, self-contained people. The two portraits stayed in the family and remain in a private collection.