Francesco Sabatini

Goya's Portrait of Francesco Sabatini from 1775, in the Meadows Museum at Dallas, depicts the Italian-born architect who served Charles III as his principal architect for the royal works, responsible for major public buildings in Madrid including the Puerta de Alcalá and the customs house. Sabatini was one of the key figures in the transformation of Madrid under Bourbon rule, bringing the Neoclassical architectural idiom from Naples — where he had worked under Charles III before the king's move to Spain — to the Spanish capital. Goya's portrait, made at the beginning of his tapestry cartoon career, represents one of his earliest surviving court-adjacent commissions, and the painting's direct, confident handling of Sabatini's formal architectural pose suggests a young painter already comfortable in the presence of powerful official figures. The Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University's art collection in Dallas, holds this early Goya alongside works from his later career, providing American visitors with a span of his portraiture.

Goya renders the architect with the polished technique of his early court career, using formal composition and careful attention to professional attire to establish the sitter's status.