Portrait of Ferdinand VII

Portrait of Ferdinand VII from 1814, in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, depicts the restored Bourbon king at the moment of his return to Spain following the expulsion of Napoleon's forces — a moment that appeared to promise constitutional government but quickly revealed itself as the beginning of a reactionary absolutism that would persecute liberals throughout his reign. Goya was required to paint Ferdinand VII as a professional obligation of his position, and he did so with the professional correctness that allowed him to survive politically while his liberal friends were imprisoned or exiled. The portrait's formal competence is impeccable, yet the sitter's slightly guarded expression and physical solidity have struck many observers as capturing, perhaps unintentionally, the obstinate self-satisfaction of a man who regarded the Spanish people as subjects to be controlled rather than citizens to be served. The Thyssen-Bornemisza's Goya holdings, which include El tío Paquete from the same approximate period, place this official portrait in proximity to the street subject, emphasising the range of his engagement with the human world he inhabited.

Goya renders the king with formal accuracy and the royal regalia of restoration, while his characteristic refusal to flatter reveals something of Ferdinand's obstinate and ungenerous character.