Portrait of Sebastián Martínez y Pérez

The Portrait of Sebastián Martínez y Pérez, an oil on canvas painted by Francisco Goya in 1792, was created in Cádiz while the artist was convalescing from an illness that rendered him partially deaf; the work bears the inscription "Dn Sebastian / Martinez / Por su Amigo / Goya / 1792," indicating it was a gift to his close friend Martínez. The painting remained in the sitter's family until 1905, when it entered the New York dealer Knoedler's stock and was sold the following year to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its dimensions are recorded as 93 × 67.6 cm, and it is classified as a portrait.

The work was sold to Knoedler for 28,236.75 francs, and the gallery sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1906. The museum continues to hold the artwork, displaying it in Gallery 619. No further specific exhibition history is provided by the sources.

Painted in 1792 during Goya's convalescence in Cádiz, the work marks a pivotal moment in the artist's career, created shortly before his complete deafness. Art historian Pierre Descargues, in his 1979 biography, argues that the portrait anticipates Impressionism through its depiction of shifting natural light reflecting off the subject's blue silk jacket. The inscription on the letter held by Sebastián Martínez y Pérez, "Por su Amigo Goya", underscores the personal bond between sitter and creator, distinguishing this from formal court commissions.

The painting remained in the Martínez family until 1905, when it was sold to the New York gallery Knoedler and subsequently acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Scholarly attention also includes analysis by Nigel Glendinning and X. de Salas regarding this specific period of Goya's portraiture.

The portrait's later influence centers on its technical innovations and market trajectory. Critics such as Pierre Descargues highlighted its luminous treatment of silk, noting how reflections on the sitter's blue-striped waistcoat anticipate Impressionist handling of light, a reading reiterated in subsequent Goya scholarship. After remaining in the Martínez family until 1905, the work entered the New York art trade, selling at Knoedler for 28,236.75 francs before its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1906.

Its presence in the museum's Goya and Eighteenth-Century Italy gallery has sustained scholarly attention, framing the painting as a pivotal transitional work within Goya's oeuvre.

This oil painting, titled Portrait of Sebastián Martínez y Pérez, captures a seated male figure. The subject, a gentleman of apparent means, is depicted holding a letter in his right hand. His attire includes a blue jacket, white shirt, and yellow trousers, complemented by a fashionable wig. The composition is set against a subdued, dark green background, characteristic of portraiture from the period.