* Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes Fuendetodos 1746 - 1828 Bordeaux

Probably Juan Agustín Ceán Bermudéz (the inscription in pen and brown ink: Goya appears to be the same as on other drawings in his collection);  
long after his death in 1829, a third of his collection was sold in Madrid in 1864, and bought by Paul Lefort; 
his sale, Paris, Oudart, 28-29 January 1869, lot 106;
Mrs. Jay, Frankfurt;
Oskar Kobielski, Bromberg (from an old label on the backing)

V. von Loga, Francisco de Goya, Berlin 1903, p. 227, no. 644;
A.L. Mayer, Francisco de Goya, Munich 1923, p. 229, no. 684;
Also, the following literature mentions the probable existence of a drawing by Goya for the print: 
José Gudiol, Goya, Barcelona 1971, vol. I, p. 252, under no. 169; 
J. Wilson-Bareau and E. Santiago, 'Ydioma Universal', Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, 1996, under no. 177; 
N. Glendinning and J.M. Medrano, Goya y el Banco Nacional de San Carlos, Madrid 2005, p. 28

The present drawing was made by Goya as the design for the frontispiece to the Elogio del Excelentisimo Señor Conde de Gausa que en junta general celebrada por la Real Sociedad de Amigos del Pais de Madrid en 24 de diciembre de 1785 leyó el socio D. Francisco Cabarrús.... This frontispiece was engraved after Goya's drawing by Fernando Selma (1752-1810) and the Elogio was published in Madrid by the widow of the famous publisher Ibarra in 1786 (see Juliet Wilson-Bareau and Elena Santiago, op. cit., below no. 177, reproduced). Selma's engraving (see fig.1) is in the same direction as Goya's drawing and identical in size.  There is no sign that the drawing has been incised or pricked or otherwise prepared for transfer, although it is possible that the engraver took a counterproof for the purpose.  This drawing was most probably in the collection of Agustín Ceán Bermúdez, the historian, collector and friend of Goya (see Provenance, and for more information on the Ceán Bermúdez collection, see Wilson-Bareau and Santiago, op.cit.).  The same pen and ink inscription of the name of Goya appears on other drawings by the artist which were in the collection of Ceán Bermúdez, including several studies after Velasquez (reproduced Pierre Gassier, The Drawings of Goya, London 1975, nos 27, 31, 34). 

Miguel de Muzquiz y Goyeneche, the subject of this drawing, was born into a noble family of Navarre in 1719.  When just twenty years old, he began his successful career in the Ministry of Finance.  He succeeded the Marqués de Esquillache as Minister of Finance, a position which he held for many years. On 2 June 1782, with the Conde de Floridablanca, then the Prime Minister of Spain, he founded the Banco Nacional de San Carlos, which was a private enterprise but under the protection of the king.  Miguel de Muzquiz was created primer Conde de Gausa in 1783 and made a knight of the Order of Charles III of Spain. In the drawing he is portrayed wearing the sash and the star of that Order and the badge of the Military Order of Santiago.

The drawing is also closely related to Goya's full-length portrait of the Conde de Gausa, now in the collection of the Banco de España (see fig.2), in which he wears the same embroidered coat with the sash of the Order of Charles III and the other decorations, and holds letters in his right hand, as in the drawing (see Nigel Glendinning and José Medrano, loc. cit., below). Goya painted the Conde de Gausa at the peak of his career probably soon after 1783. The drawing is most likely based on the painting and slightly later, as the date of the Elogio would suggest.  There are two other three-quarter length versions of the portrait, one newly discovered in a private collection, and the other formerly in the Lázaro Collection, Madrid (see Pierre Gassier and Juliet Wilson, Goya his life and work, London 1971, no. 215, reproduced).

Among Goya's drawings, the present work is stylistically very close to the portrait of Charles IV, executed in lead pencil and datable to 1789-90 (Madrid, Carderera Collection; see Gassier, op.cit., 1975, p. 72, no. 38, reproduced).  That drawing is also preparatory for an etching executed by Carmona and used as a frontispiece for the Kalendario Manuel y Guía de Forasteros en Madrid.

This important, rediscovered drawing of the Conde de Gausa was first published by von Loga in 1903, and was also included by Mayer in his 1923 monograph (see Literature), but it was unknown to later authors, and is referred to in the subsequent literature only as a drawing that must exist, or have existed.  We are extremely grateful to Juliet Wilson-Bareau for generously providing much of the information contained in this entry.