Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
219 x 152 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta bruñida y buril
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
30 Jul 2013 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

El amor y la muerte. (at the bottom)

 10. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

There is a proof of state prior to the letter deposited in the British Museum and from the Enriqueta Harris Frankfort collection, which has the title in manuscript with good calligraphy. There is also another proof in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris with the same legend smudged.

Engraving no. 10, Love and Death, was preceded by two preparatory drawings in the Prado Museum (1) and (2) . Drawing no. 35 in Album B or Album of Madrid should also be considered the germ of this print.

Análisis artístico

A woman holds in her arms a man who appears to have been wounded in a duel, as the sword lying at his feet testifies. There is an expression of anguish and pain on his face, perhaps because he has been mortally wounded. The woman's face also hints at suffering, with her mouth half-open and her eyes closed. The scene takes place in an open space and the man's body is leaning against a low wall.

The Aragonese painter used aquatint to create the background, with a lighter area at the bottom and a darker area at the top, which could be a device that heralds the dawn. As in many other engravings in this series, he has left a lighter surface to attract the viewer's attention; in this case the white garments of the dying figure capture our interest.

The Ayala manuscript notes of this print: "It is not convenient to draw the sword many times: love exposes to quarrels and challenges". In the Prado's Museum it is stated that "Here is a lover of Calderón who for not knowing how to laugh at his competitor dies in the arms of his beloved and loses because of his recklessness. It is not convenient to draw the sword too often". Finally, it is worth mentioning what the manuscript in the Biblioteca Nacional comments on this engraving: "From illicit loves, nothing but noise and quarrels usually follow".

This print has been the subject of various interpretations. The most widespread of these, which is based both on the image and on the three manuscripts referred to above, is that this scene is a criticism of the duels. We should also consider Juliet Wilson-Bareau's reading of this work based on a comparison of the print with drawing no. 35 of the Madrid Album or Album B, Young Woman Holding Her Dying Lover. The woman in the drawing is looking up at the sky, so it seems that rather than showing grief she is expressing exasperation. The sword lying on the ground and the limp posture of the man in the print lead one to identify his death with the "death" of the passion of an old man unable to satisfy the desires of a young woman. This idea is reinforced by the way Goya has depicted the face of the man in the print as older than the figure in the drawing. If so, this print would continue the theme of the previous print in the Caprices series, No. 9, Tantalus.

Conservación

The plate is in poor condition ( National Chalcography, no. 181).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • Goya dans les collections suisses
    Fundación Pierre Gianadda
    Martigny
    1982
    consultant editor Pierre Gassier. From June 12th to August 29th 1982
  • Goya. La década de Los Caprichos
    Madrid
    1992
    organized by Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando sponsored by Fundación Central Hispano, Madrid, consultant editor Nigel Glendinnig. From October 26th 1992 to January 10th 1993
  • Francisco de Goya
    Museo d'Arte Moderna
    Lugano
    1996
    exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.
  • 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
  • Das Capriccio als Kunstprinzip
    Wallraf-Richartz-Museum,
    1996
    from December 8th 1996 to February 16th 1997, exhibited also in Zurich, Kunsthaus, from March 14th marzo 1997 to June 1st 1997 and in Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum mi Palais Harrach, from June 29th 1997 to September 21st 1997.
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • Goya e la tradizione italiana
    Fondazione Magnani Rocca
    Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
    2006
    consultant editors Fred Licht and Simona Tosini Pizzetti. From September 9th to December 3th 2006
  • Goya. Opera grafica
    Pinacoteca del Castello di San Giorgio
    Legnano
    2006
    exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007
  • 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
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.80, cat. 45
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.177, cat. 469
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.33-36, cat. 20-21
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.79, cat. 98
  • BLAS BENITO, Javier, MATILLA RODRÍGUEZ, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    El libro de los caprichos: dos siglos de interpretaciones (1799-1999). Catálogo de los dibujos, pruebas de estado, láminas de cobre y estampas de la primera edición
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    1999
    pp.96-99
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    Bibliography']['number
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 139
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 194
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Bibliography']['number
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 32
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