Vicente López was a prolific painter executing many religious, allegorical, historic and mythological scenes, but he specialized in portraits.

In 1826, López painted a portrait of Francisco Goya when the famous master visited the court from Bordeaux, where the Aragonese painter was then living.

It was said that Goya got bored posing for his colleague who was very meticulous and a stickler for detail, and that for this reason the portrait is inferior to others by López.

Vicente López spent the remainder of his life in Madrid painting portraits of statesmen, academics, and other important figures, as well as dramatic and emotional religious subjects.

López is considered the best Spanish painter of his time, second only to Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes.

López's style is dominated by the influence of Anton Raphael Mengs and the Academicism, and he was unaffected by the romanticism popular at the end of his career.