The Huntington Museum in Pasadena, California, has acquired a portrait by Francisco de Goya from 1807. Another museum in the same city, the Norton Simon, opens this Friday an exhibition with 200 engravings by the Spanish painter.

The Huntington is a giant in the region, receiving a million visitors a year. It has a library with 12 remaining original Gutenberg Bibles, some documents from presidents such as Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson. It also has an art collection with 45,000 objects, including paintings by Turner and Constable; some gardens of more than 52 hectares... and now a painting by Goya, of which they do not clarify how much it cost. It is only known that it has been financed by the Ahmanson Foundation, created in the mid-20th century by the wealthy owner of an insurance company. Some specialized portals estimate it at at least six million dollars and consider it to be a low price. The acquisition, at the end of 2023, and the expectations placed on the Goyaurally-driven museum are surprising. Goya's work is "very extensive and highly valued for many years," Caballero's portrait dates from the months prior to the Napoleonic invasion. Goya's paintings in the United States may not be the most valuable in Zaragoza, but they do not fail to show that the taste for his brush continues to reach far and move millions. "It would be extraordinary," Zonno admits excitedly. 'It is the first of four copies,' she clarifies of the work, which comes from a private collector in Miami who auctioned it at Sotheby's. Would you like to bring them together? "Would be extraordinary." "A good part could be recovered over time. Especially the most official, paintings taken to France for Napoleon or those that King Joseph I took in his luggage when he fled, rescued by Wellington after the battle of Vitoria.'