Art: The Sad-Eyed Countess

The reign of pudgy Charles IV, King of Spain from 1788 to 1808, was as squalid as it was tragic, but it did boast one supreme ornament. The Painter to the King was Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes, who left behind on canvas a royal family album that has dazzled the world ever since. Each year thousands of visitors to the Prado in Madrid have come to know Goya's bumbling old King, his sharp-faced Queen, the sulky heir apparent, and a host of beribboned infantes and infantas, all portrayed with ruthless candor. But...

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