English: Attributed to Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos 1746 - 1828 Bordeaux)

Portrait of Admiral Jose de Mazarredo (1744-1812), half-length, seated at a table

signed or inscribed lower right: Goya lo hizo

oil on canvas

canvas: 41⅝ by 32⅞ in.; 105.6 by 83.3 cm.

This handsome portrait dates from circa 1784-5, early in Goya's career and before he became the official Painter to the King. At that time he was mostly preoccupied with religious commissions and tapestry designs; it wasn't until the late 1780s and into the 1790s that demand for his portraiture skyrocketed and he began producing the deeply psychological portraits that he would become so famous for.

Here Goya has presented Admiral Mazarredo in a somewhat conventional format which adheres to standard practice at the time. He is shown in his naval uniform, which is adorned with The Cross of the Order of Santiago.1 He seated in an upright manner at a table, holding a watch, the sea and frigate shown beyond to allude to Mazarredo's naval career. Admiral Mazarredo, who was not only a naval commander but also an accomplished cartographer, astronomer, and professor of naval tactics, had a highly distinguished career leading the Spanish navy in engagements throughout the world. His innovative tactical theories were employed by Spain in the American Revolutionary War, where he served as Cordova's chief of staff and boldly maneuvered a large British envoy in August of 1780. At the end of the war, he went to Algiers as the Spanish Ambassador to negotiate peace after the Spanish bombardment. He continued to have an illustrious naval career and by 1804 was sent to France as the Spanish Ambassador, though after a clash with Napoleon he returned to Spain.

Admiral Mazarredo gifted the present portrait to Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Principe de la Paz, and it descended to his daughter, who displayed it in the Palacio de Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, for much of the nineteenth century. The painting has been published and exhibited as by the master himself consistently throughout its history, though recently some scholars have suggested it could have been completed in his workshop. Dr. William B. Jordan, who viewed the work in person, believed it could be by Goya.

A replica of the portrait was in the collection of the sitter's family but lost during the Spanish Civil War.