Francisco de Goya

Duel with Cudgels (Duelo a garratazos)

Clasificación
Duel with Cudgels (Duelo a garratazos)
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1820 - 1823
Ubicación
The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Dimensiones
125 x 261 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil painting on plaster transferred to canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Titular
El Prado National Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
27 Oct 2010 / 04 Mar 2024
Inventario
(P00758)
Otros títulos:
The Strangers (Dos forasteros)
Two Men Fighting with Cudgels (Dos hombres riñendo a garrotazos)
Fight with Cudgels (Riña a garrotazos)
Historia

See Leocadia.

Brugada named this work Two Strangers, and Yriarte identified the main figures as provincial characters, calling them cowherds from Galicia: he understood the word "strangers" to mean from outside Madrid, from one of the furthest away corners of the peninsula. There are several slight variations on this title. The first is the most descriptive: Two Men Fighting with Cudgels (Dos hombres riñendo a garrotazos). This title was later shortened to Fight with Cudgels (Riña a garrotazos), and (possibly due to Salas' influence) Duel with Cudgels (Duelo a garrotazos).

Análisis artístico

This painting was located on the left-hand wall of the first floor of the house following The Fates (Las Parcas). The scene features two large-scale, almost monumental figures. The two men are shown at nightfall, trapped knee-deep in the ground, fighting with cudgels. The man on the left - who seems to be the stronger of the two - has blood on his face and chest, while the other raises his left arm to protect his face from his adversary's blow.

The figures are dressed according to Goya's times, their clothing contrasting with the blood that spurts from their injuries. The background is once more a landscape, with a hill that rises up on the right-hand side of the scene. It is striking that there are no fantasy elements to this painting, in contrast to the other murals located in the house.

Recent x-ray studies of the work and their comparison with photographs taken in the 19th century have revealed substantial changes in the scene followed its removal from the wall. The men were not originally buried in earth up to their knees; rather, as Yriarte described, they were shown on their feet in a meadow full of grass.

The first interpretations of the scene generally related it to the rural setting and brutal habits of country people.

The most common reading of the work makes reference to fights between brothers with allusions to Greek mythology, framed in the political context of Spain at the time the painting was produced.

Conservación

Martínez Cubells also restored this work.

Exposiciones
  • Pinturas Negras en la Exposición Universal de París
    Palacio del Trocadero
    París
    1878
    from may 20th to November 10th 1878
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
Bibliografía
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    pp. 327-329, cat. 1616
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p.379, cat. 709
  • MULLER, Priscilla
    Goya's Black Paintings: Truth and Reason in Light and Liberty
    New YorkHispanic Society of America
    1984
    p. 94-101
  • LUNA, Juan J. (Comisario)
    Goya. 250 Aniversario
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1996
    p. 31
  • BOZAL, Valeriano
    Las pinturas negras de Goya, Alcobendas
    T.F. Editores
    1997
    p.79-80
  • JUNQUERA, Paulina
    Las Pinturas Negras de Goya
    LondonScala Publishers Ltd.
    2003
    p. 81
Ficha en SAAC

Los Sistemas Aumentativos y Alternativos de Comunicación (SAAC) son formas de expresión distintas al lenguaje hablado, que tienen como objetivo aumentar (aumentativos) y/o compensar (alternativos) las dificultades de comunicación y lenguaje de muchas personas con discapacidad. Más info: Arasaac

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