José Costa y Bonells, Called Pepito

Goya painted José Costa y Bonells, known as Pepito, around 1810, depicting a young boy of about six or seven years old in military costume complete with sword and tricorn hat. The child's military dress takes on somber resonance during the Peninsular War, when even children were drawn into the conflict. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the portrait belongs to Goya's wartime period, yet its tenderness stands in sharp contrast to the brutality of the Disasters of War. Goya's portraits of children — from Manuel Osorio to this painting — consistently reveal a gentleness that complicates the narrative of Goya as primarily a painter of darkness and horror.

Goya renders the child with warm, gentle color and sensitive observation of childhood expression, creating a portrait that captures both the individuality and the vulnerability of the young subject.