John Haber blogs about the exhibition Goya and the Altamira Family at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on view through August 3, 2014.

Haber writes that the show "brings together the five paintings of the Altamira family… The Met has borrowed the oldest son from a private collection, the middle son from the Cleveland Museum. The father comes from the show’s co-sponsor, the Banco de España, and the mother and daughter from the Met’s Lehman Collection. The boy in red, though, is right at home. Regular visitors to the museum will know Manuel well from the silvery white of his broad collar, delicate sleeves, and bowed shoes, along with the broad sash around his waist. … To Manuel’s other side, cats eye a magpie with tense black and yellow eyes, and one may take a moment to spot the third and darkest cat lurking behind. The boy keeps the black and white bird on a string passing through both hands, with the steady raised arms of an impresario."