Don Antonio Noriega

Francisco Goya

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the hips up, a pale-skinned, heavy-set, elegantly dressed man sits at the corner of a table, looking at us in this vertical portrait painting. Against a dark brown background, the man’s body is angled to our left, and he stares at us from the corners of his brown eyes. His eyebrows are drawn together, and his pink lips are set in a line. His round face is cleanshaven, and he has full, flushed cheeks and a double chin. His gray hair is brushed back off his forehead and curls in a furling row over each ear. His black, high-necked coat is densely decorated with loosely painted gold leaves and patterns around the collar and down the front. A gold, starburst-like medal hangs from a short ribbon striped in white and light blue amid the gold trim. The coat’s wide, scarlet-red cuffs are lined with gold buttons and are also decorated with gold trim. A froth of white lace nestles at his throat. The coat is buttoned over his chest and drapes open across his hips over a red garment, possibly a vest, also edged with gold decoration. The tail of his black coat hangs down under the arm of his chair, which has a curving, gold wood frame and crimson-red upholstery. The man’s left elbow, closer to us, rests on the arm of his chair, and that hand is tucked into the gap between buttons of his red garment. His other hand rests on the pine-green cloth covering the table in the lower left corner of the composition. He holds a folded piece of paper in that hand, which rests on more papers. The folded paper is painted with the words, “El Sor Dn Antonio Noriega Tesorero General F. Goya 1801.” There is more writing on the front of the tablecloth, but it is difficult to make out.