- Cronología
- 1815 - 1819
- Dimensiones
- 245 x 350 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Aguafuerte, aguatinta y punta seca
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Documented work
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 22 Aug 2021 / 05 Jun 2023
- Inventario
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See Femenine folly.
This is one of the four unpublished prints that the magazine L'Art published in 1877. The plate is in a private collection in Paris.
There is a print in the Lazaro Galdiano Foundation with the number 12 handwritten in the upper left corner and the legend Timely folly in the lower margin.
One of the four versions published in L'Art has the following inscription printed in the lower margin: Goya inv. et sc. / UNA REINA DEL CIRCO / Une reine du Cirque / L’Art-F.cois Liénard Imp. Paris.
A young woman rides a horse standing upright and holding it by the reins. The horse, in turn, swings on a rope that runs from side to side, the ends of which are outside the frame of the picture. In the background, a crowd enjoys the circus show.
Against the black background, the whiteness of the magnificently modelled horse and the girl is silhouetted against the black background. The girl is dressed like a maja, with a neat chignon tied high on her head, and expresses a restrained tension. Both she and the horse seem serene despite the difficult balance. This is because, if we look closely, we can see how the rope rests on the ground, not implying any kind of risk. While in other prints Goya criticises unbridled passions, in this one he possibly does the opposite: he reproaches excessive control, as no extreme is good for the human spirit. It has also been seen as a representation of the difficult balance of feminine virtue over natural passions, symbolised by the horse, under the gaze of an unscrupulous public watching for the fall.
This evocation of the circus is related to an image that may have remained in Goya´s memory from one of his visits to the circus. In it he fuses two types of spectacle: tightrope walking and the acrobatics of the amazons on horses.
The audience in the background is dissolved by a vertical stripe, which leaves it semi-transparent as if it were seen through a lattice. The parallel touches of drypoint on the horse stand out.
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GoyaMusée Jacquemart-AndréParís1961consultant editor Jean-Gabriel Domergue. From December 1961 to February 1962
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Etchings by Francosco GoyaJohannesburgoJohannesburgo1974
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Boston1974
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1976
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Grabados de Goya: colección propiedad de la Biblioteca Nacional, que se conserva en su Gabinete deCasa de la Amistad de MoscúMoscow1979exhibition displayed from January 18th to 31st 1979
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Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)Hamburger KunsthalleHamburg1980cat. 161
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Goya y el espíritu de la IlustraciónMuseo Nacional del PradoMadrid1988from 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
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Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996Galerie KornfeldBern1996from November 21st 1996 to January 1997
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Goya. 250 AniversarioMuseo Nacional del PradoMadrid1996consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
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Goya grabadorMuseo del Grabado Español ContemporáneoMarbella1996from March 8th to May 5th 1996
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Zaragoza1996
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London1997
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1999
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Madrid1999
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Schlaf der Vernunft. Original radierungen von Francisco de GoyaMunich2000
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Goya en tiempos de guerraMuseo Nacional del PradoMadrid2008consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués, from April 14th to July 13th 2008cat. 184
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Bilbao2012
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OxfordBruno Cassirer1964p. 403, cat. 267
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p. 326, cat. 1602
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Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalMadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional1996p. 246, cat. 397
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MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando y Calcografía Nacional1996pp. 109 y 113, cat. 20 y 51-54
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Roma Edizioni de Luca2000pp. 156-157, cat. 58
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MadridMuseo Nacional y Ediciones El Viso2008pp. 492-493, cat. 184
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Goya. In the Norton Simon MuseumPasadenaNorton Simon Museum2016pp. 204-211