Portrait of Francisco Bayeu

Goya’s portrait of his brother-in-law and former teacher, whom he succeeded as Director of the Academy, was probably painted after Bayeu’s death in August 1795. It was unfinished when it was exhibited in the Academy of San Fernando later in the same month. Although this portrait is based on a self-portrait by Bayeu it has all the appearance of a study from life. The predominance of grey and silvery tones is characteristic of a group of Goya’s portraits dating from the last years of the eighteenth century. An earlier portrait of Bayeu (1786) by Goya is in the Museo San P�o V, Valencia.