The Victorious Hannibal is the first documented work by Goya. He painted it in Rome in 1771 in order to submit it that year to the competition held by the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in Parma where it received an honourable mention. In general Goya adhered to the Academy’s precise guidelines for the depiction of the subject, which is related to the history of Spain. He worked out the composition beforehand in his Italian Sketchbook and in preparatory oil sketches, of which two are known to date.