Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
1815 - 1819
Dimensiones
242 x 356 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta bruñida y lavis
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Ficha: realización/revisión
22 Aug 2021 / 05 Jun 2023
Inventario
-
Historia

See Femenine folly.

There is a state proof before aquatint in the Albertina Museum, Vienna. The state proof with the burnished aquatint and lavis in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has the number 7 manuscript in the upper right corner, plus Clear folly centred in the lower margin.

Análisis artístico

A soldier in French uniform falls with a crash into an abyss in the lower left corner of the composition after dismounting from his horse, while two friars look on in horror at the spectacle. On the right, a religious man or preacher, excited, addresses his harangue to two people kneeling on his left. He opens his arms with outstretched index fingers pointing in opposite directions to the light and to the precipice into which the soldier falls. Behind him, men hold a wide curtain in acrobatic poses. A mass of rain falls obliquely from the upper left corner. The stage on which the group of figures is arranged and the awning give the picture a scenographic value that is enhanced by the candle-lighting.

In the state of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the horseman falling into the abyss does not appear. Instead, a beam of lightning or fire emerges from him. Therein may lie the key to the meaning of the print, as the clergyman would point to heaven and hell, salvation and damnation. Goya would make an attack on religious fanaticism and the verbiage of preachers and ecclesiastical orators. In fact, the focus is on the preacher, as his fanaticism deforms his own face and his hands are illuminated. The fact that a French soldier falls into hell is related to the post-war atmosphere. The acrobats have also been seen as an allusion to the liberals, as they would support each other in lifting the veil that shrounds society in darkness and ignorance. 

The preparatory drawing for the present print, also entitled Clear folly, is preserved. 

Exposiciones
  • Goya
    Musée Jacquemart-André
    París
    1961
    consultant editor Jean-Gabriel Domergue. From December 1961 to February 1962
  • Etchings by Francosco Goya
    Johannesburgo
    Johannesburgo
    1974
  • Boston
    1974
  • 1976
  •  Grabados de Goya: colección propiedad de la Biblioteca Nacional, que se conserva en su Gabinete de
    Casa de la Amistad de Moscú
    Moscow
    1979
    exhibition displayed from January 18th to 31st 1979
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • Goya y el espíritu de la Ilustración
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1988
    from October 6th to December 18th 1988. Exhibited also at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 18th to March 26th 1989; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York, May 9th to July 16th 1989, Madrid curator Manuela B. Mena Marqués, scientific directors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Eleanor A. Sayre
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996
    Galerie Kornfeld
    Bern
    1996
    from November 21st 1996 to January 1997
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
  • Goya grabador
    Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo
    Marbella
    1996
    from March 8th to May 5th 1996
  • Zaragoza
    1996
  • London
    1997
  • 1999
  • Madrid
    1999
  • Schlaf der Vernunft. Original radierungen von Francisco de Goya
    Munich
    2000
  • Goya en tiempos de guerra
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2008
    consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués, from April 14th to July 13th 2008
  • Bilbao
    2012
  • Goya luces y sombras
    CaixaForum
    Barcelona
    2012
    consultant editors José Manuel Matilla and Manuela B. Marqués. From March 16th to June 24th 2012
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Madrid
    2017
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    pp. 397-398, cat. 262
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 326, cat. 1593
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p. 244, cat. 392
  • CARRETE, Juan, MATILLA, José Manuel, AULLÓN DE HARO, Pedro, BOZAL, Valeriano, GLENDINNING, Nigel, VEGA, Jesusa y BLAS, Javier
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando y Calcografía Nacional
    1996
    pp. 107 y 111, cat. 15,16 y 35
  • MATILLA, José Manuel
    Roma Edizioni de Luca
    2000
    pp. 138-139, cat. 47
  • MATILLA, José Manuel
    MadridMuseo Nacional y Ediciones El Viso
    2008
    pp. 488-489, cat. 182
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 274
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    pp. 264-265
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 204-211
  • CALVO RUATA, José Ignacio, BORRÁS GUALIS, Gonzalo M. and MARTÍNEZ HERRANZ, Amparo
    ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón y Fundación Bancaria Ibercaja
    2017
    p. 221
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