El infante Don Fernando

See Philip III.

This is one of the etchings from this series where Goya displays the greatest urgency and also the great meticulousness. He made at least five state proofs of it, all conserved at the National Library. The first shows the first etching, before the second bite and the application of the roulette and the aquatint. The reverse of this proof features a note written in pencil. Opinions concerning which was the next proof differ. In the proof that Sayre says is the second and which Harris insists is the third, horizontal lines are added in the sky and the landscape, and both the bushes and the figure of the infante himself are fleshed out. It is possible to detect some partially burnished out foul bites on the dog's neck, beside the infante's left leg and on his left hand. This proof was made before the roulette and the aquatint were applied. It has also been picked out in partially smudged black pencil. Written in the bottom border in graphite pencil is the following: Philip IV, King of Spain, copy by Goya, in the year 1778, from an original by Velázquez. [This] is a proof and the print was discarded.

What Sayre calls the third state proof (and Harris calls the second) is the one in which Goya adds the third etching and extends the bushes out to meet the figure of the infante. There are burnished areas on the left border and on the foul bites in the background, on the infante's leg and on the dog's neck and collar. This proof was made before the roulette and the aquatint were applied. Written on affixed paper, in handwriting that possibly belongs to Carderera, is the following: Proof, perhaps unique for this state, before the background, which is very dark.

The last state proof that we have is the fifth, made using aquatint but before the lettering was written onto the plate. On it, handwritten in ink in the bottom border we see: An infante of Spain. Painting by Don Diego Velázquez, life-size, in the Royal Palace of Madrid. Drawn and etched by Francisco Goya, Painter. This state proof belonged to the collection of Valentín Carderera, who added the title to the plate at a later date.

Four prints from different editions also survive. The one corresponding to the first edition was made between 1780 and 1785, using etching, aquatint and roulette, and came from the reclaimed Fondo de Recuperación of 1948. The second-edition print was made in greyish-sepia ink, sometime between 1815 and 1820. The third edition was an etching, aquatint and roulette, made prior to 1868. The last print belonged to the third edition, made around 1868, again using etching, aquatint and roulette. In it, handwritten in the lower right-hand corner is the word Merelo.