| Josefa Bayeu | |
|---|---|
| Spanish: Retrato de Josefa Bayeu | |
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| Artist | Francisco Goya |
| Year | 1814–1816 |
| Medium | oil on plain weave |
| Dimensions | 82.5 × 58.2 cm |
| Location | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
Josefa Bayeu[1] or Leocadia Zorrilla[2] (Spanish: Retrato de Josefa Bayeu or Leocadia Zorrilla) is an oil painting by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. It is currently housed in the Museo del Prado.
The portrait depicts a young, well-off woman around 30 years of age. Traditionally, it was believed to be a likeness of Josefa Bayeu, the artist's only wife, as it was described this way in one of the inventories conducted at Goya's home and later in museum catalogues. Today, art critics have doubts about this identification, as well as the painting's exact date of creation. It has not been definitively established who the portrait represents. According to art historians from the Museo del Prado, it is most likely a portrait of Leocadia Zorrilla de Weiss, a young noblewoman and Goya's companion after his wife's death.
It was probably not a commissioned work (unlike most of Goya's portraits) but rather a private piece depicting someone from the artist's close circle. Due to the woman's enigmatic smile, the painting has been referred to as "Goya's Mona Lisa".
- ^ Francisco Goya (in Polish). Vol. 11. Poznań: Oxford Educational. 2006. ISBN 83-7425-497-1.
- ^ Hughes, Robert; Jankowska, Hanna (2006). Goya: artysta i jego czas [Goya: The Artist and His Time] (in Polish). Warsaw: W.A.B. pp. 36, 50. ISBN 978-83-7414-248-9. OCLC 569990350.