Charles IV in his Hunting Clothes

Charles IV in His Hunting Clothes from 1799, in the Royal Palace of Madrid, belongs to Goya's extended series of royal hunting portraits made across multiple years of his court service. The hunting portrait was the most humanising of royal portrait formats, presenting the monarch in informal attire and outdoor setting rather than the ceremonial dress and gilded interiors of official state portraiture. Charles IV's genuine enthusiasm for hunting — he reportedly spent more time in the field than on state business, leaving much governance to his wife María Luisa and her favourite Godoy — is registered in Goya's portrait with characteristic directness: the king appears comfortable and competent in the hunting context even if his physical presence lacks the authority that official state portraits required. The year 1799, when Goya was appointed First Court Painter — the highest official artistic appointment available in Spain — places this hunting portrait at the absolute peak of his institutional career, simultaneously the most powerful portraitist in Spain and an artist whose private work was moving in increasingly dark directions.

Goya renders the hunting costume and the outdoor setting with characteristic directness and fluid brushwork. The honest portrayal of the king's features, neither flattering nor obviously satirical, demonstrates the matter-of-fact naturalism of his mature portrait style.