Goya's Portrait of Dona Isabel de Porcel: A Question of Attribution

Interesting small exhibition at the National Gallery examining the gallery’s own portrait of Dona Isabel de Porcel by discussing if it is in fact by Goya as a companion show to Goya : The Portraits.

The show discusses the historical and technical evidence. It traces the sale record of it and talks about the fact it was not sold by the family of the sitter and can’t be traced to that family. It also looks at x-ray evidence which shows another picture underneath it and shows that the picture we see was painted directly on this other image without the application of a new ground or primer.

However despite all the evidence the show doesn’t draw any conclusions which is a shame but it is an interesting study in research techniques.

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