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Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828) Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784-1792), possibly 1790s 50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm) Oil on canvas Context: This portrait represents the son of the conde de Altamira. Outfitted in a splendid red costume, Don Manuel is shown playing with a pet magpie (which holds the painter's calling card in its beak), a cage full of finches, and three wide-eyed cats. In Christian art birds frequently symbolize the soul, and in Baroque art caged birds are symbolic of innocence. Goya may have intended this portrait as an illustration of the frail boundaries that separate the child's world from the forces of evil or as a commentary on the fleeting nature of innocence and youth. The picture is one of several portraits commissioned by the Altamiras after Goya was appointed painter to the king (1786). It may have been executed after the child's death in 1792, since the imagery and sinister undertone seem more characteristic of Goya's works of the 1790s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA No. 49.7.41 The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 Index terms Paintings View catalog record in data dictionary format View catalog record in output format View metadata record in data dictionary format View metadata record in output format Return to the AMICO Examples page

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