Antonio Veián y Monteagudo

Antonio Veián y Monteagudo (1710–84) taught several classes at Huesca's Sertoriana University (Universidad Sertoriana de Huesca) between 1733 and 1748. When Monteagudo was named a member of Castile's Supreme Council (Consejo Supremo) and Chamber (Cámara), the university commissioned Francisco de Goya to paint this portrait of him. It would form part of the gallery of distinguished men that decorated the auditorium. It is a full-length portrait of him standing against a background that is almost entirely taken up by a wide curtain, which opens on the left to reveal a landscape. The artist signed the painting on the letter the subject is holding in his right hand. Monteagudo belonged to a distinguished family from Tamarite de Litera in Huesca, and the inscription along the bottom of the canvas details his studies and the positions he held.