The Family of Charles IV (La familia de Carlos IV)

The painting, clearly conceived as a dynastic portrait, was made between Aranjuez, where Goya would have made the preparatory drawings, and Madrid, in the spring and summer of 1800, shortly after Goya was named First Court Painter (1799).

This large group portrait, set in a room decorated with other paintings and lit from the left-hand side, is presided over by King Charles IV (1748-1819) and Queen María Luisa de Parma (1751-1818), in the centre of the composition. Beside them are their children, the Infanta María Isabel (1789-1848) and the Infante Francisco de Paula (1794-1865). The group to the left of them features, in the front, the Prince of Asturias and future King Ferdinand VII (1784-1833), dressed in blue; behind him the Infante Carlos María Isidro (1788-1855), second in succession to the throne; the Infanta María Josefa (1744-1801), the king's sister; an unidentified young woman; and, in the shadows at the back, Goya, painting at a large canvas. In the group on the right is the Infante Antonio Pascual (1755-1817), the king's brother. Behind him are the Infanta Carlota Joaquina (1775-1830), Queen of Portugal and eldest daughter of the king and queen; the Prince and Princess of Parma: the Infanta María Luisa (1782-1824), holding her son the Infante Carlos Luis; and her husband, Luis de Bourbon (1799-1883), the future King of Etruria.

All of the men are wearing the sash of the Order of Charles III, and some of them are also wearing the medal of the Golden Fleece. The women are wearing Empire line dresses and bear the sash of the Order of María Luisa. Charles IV is also sporting the insignia of the Military Orders and of the Portuguese Order of Christ.

The formal and compositional references to Las Meninas are clear, demonstrating the admiration that Goya felt for Velázquez.

This was the first work by Goya to enter the Prado Museum. In 1834 it was valued at 80,000 reales.