View the recommended itinerary
PERMANENT COLLECTION
Recommended itinerary
« Go back to the previous page
Francisco de Goya
Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746-Bordeaux, France, 1828
1797
Oil on canvas, 83 x 65 cm
Ramón de la Sota y Aburto bequest, 1980
A great friend of Goya’s since they were at the Pious Schools together in Saragossa, Martín Zapater (1746-1803), a man of the Enlightenment and a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, was honoured by Charles III with the title of Nobleman of Aragon for his generosity. He became a successful tradesman and kept up an abundant correspondence with Goya that is extremely revealing of the painter’s personality. This portrait was painted in 1797, seven years after a previous portrait of Zapater, at a time when Goya was successfully established in Madrid. Still presenting a certain Neoclassical aftertaste, it portrays a mature and healthy-looking Zapater. Goya focuses all his attention on the face, with its prominent nose (not in vain did he call it a narigón or big nose) and frank and direct gaze. Goya has captured his friend’s expressiveness and his distinct and open personality. At a later date the canvas was cut into an oval shape, in the Romantic taste. Francisco de Goya trained as a painter in Saragossa, from where he moved to Madrid in 1775. A protégé of Bayeu’s at court, he excelled in all genres. His extraordinary talent as a portraitist made him the favourite painter among the nobility and the monarchs Charles III, Charles IV and Ferdinand VII, from whose fierce repression against the liberals he flew in 1824. At the age of seventy-eight he settled in Bordeaux, where he would die four years later. [A.S.L.]

The origins of the modern in basque painting
BBK Room
02|13|12 • 05|20|12

Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives by Capa, Chim, and Taro
Room 32
02|27|12 • 06|10|12
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum and TF Editores with the cooperation of the Sorigué Foundation.
260-plus artworks at the touch of a finger. Surf the works in chronological order and see how López has evolved as an artist throughout his career. Or use gigapixels for some breathtaking details of his most famous works.
Antique Bronze Figures at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum. Taramona-Basabe Collection
The 96 ancient bronze figures in the Museum constitute one of its most unique groups of works. They were donated in 1942 by Mercedes Basabe y Cotoner, widow of Manuel Taramona and in accordance with her late husband’s wishes.
The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum is included in the special supplement dealing with the most important European museums currently being distributed by Le Figaro, perhaps the most import...
Presenting artworks restored in 2010
El Corte Inglés first became involved in the conservation and restoration of artworks in the museum collection in 1990. In 2000, the department store stepped up its participati...
New in online shop
Selecting not only the material and size of the print, but also its final finish on paper, canvas or stretched canvas and the choice of having it framed or unframed. High definition d...