Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga, also known as the "
Red Boy", is an oil-on-canvas portrait by Spanish artist
Francisco Goya, produced in 1787–88. It was commissioned by Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso, conde de Altamira, who had hired Goya to paint several family portraits. The eponymous subject of the painting is Altamira's youngest son, Manuel, who was born in April 1784 and later died aged eight in June 1792. He is depicted in a red costume, holding a string attached to his pet
magpie, with Goya's
visiting card in its beak. On Manuel's left is a cage of
finches, while three cats intently watch the magpie on his right, which may symbolize the innocent soul and evil forces, respectively. The painting now hangs in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, part of the
Jules Bache Collection.
Painting credit: Francisco Goya