In front of a green background, the painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) sits in an armchair holding the palette and brushes of his profession. López's dedication to Goya is on an easel to the left.

This is one of the high points of Vicente López's career and is also one of the best-known portraits of Goya. According to some authors, it is even more widely known than his own self-portraits.

The vivacity of this work is partially a result of the free, unpolished brushstrokes used by the artist here. They are quite different than what he usually employed in his commissioned portraits.

Goya was already eighty years old when this portrait was painted, but the strength of his gaze is striking and contrasts with his academic and conventional pose.

A possible preparatory sketch for this painting is in the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Buenos Aires, Argentina.