- Cronología
- 1779 - 1780
- Ubicación
- National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Dimensiones
- 95.8 x 120.2 cm
- Técnica y soporte
- Oil on canvas
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Documented work
- Titular
- National Galleries of Scotland
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 31 Dec 1969 / 14 Jun 2023
- Inventario
- (1628)
See The Blind Guitarist.
This cartoon was delivered to the Royal Tapestry Factory on 24 January 1780, along with ten other cartoons, completing the decoration of the antechamber to the bedroom. These eleven tapestry cartoons - almost certain to have been made between 21 July 1779, when the artist delivered A Stickball Game and The Swing, and this delivery in January 1780 - were executed very rapidly. It is very likely that Goya was aware of the planned suspension of manufacturing work at the factory and was anxious to finish his commissions and receive his wages.
This tapestry cartoon was one of the six stolen from the basement of the Royal Palace in Madrid before the large-scale transfer of works to the Prado Museum in 1870 (see Children with a Cart). The painting later belonged to the Linker collection in Bilbao, where it remained up until 1920. It then came to be in the London collection of the Durlacher Bros., who sold it to the museum where it is housed today.
This overdoor piece was designed for the east wall of the antechamber to the bedroom, facing the tapestry of The Rendezvous.
A doctor sits and warms his hands over some hot coals, accompanied by two students. Gudiol points out the vibrant red of the cape and the skill that Goya demonstrates in depicting everyday moments such as this one with such harmonious colours and forms.
Comparing the current dimensions of the work with those Goya recorded on the invoice, we know that the cartoon has had a vertical strip around 31 cm wide removed from the left-hand side. A balustrade was painted on the missing portion, as we can see on the resulting tapestry and in an old photograph that appeared in the decade of the 1980s, showing the work as it was when it belonged to the collection in Bilbao.
The finding of the photograph and the subsequent discovery of the balustrade completely changes the scene depicted in the cartoon. Without this crucial detail, the figures had appeared to be outdoors, in the open. We now understand that they are on a terrace, next to a house.
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GoyaMusée Jacquemart-AndréParís1961consultant editor Jean-Gabriel Domergue. From December 1961 to February 1962cat. 14
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Goya and his timesThe Royal Academy of ArtsLondon1963cat. 66cat. 49
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GoyaLa Lonja, Torreón Fortea y Museo Pablo GargalloZaragoza1992consultant editor Julián Gállegocat. 7
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GoyaNationalmuseumStockholm1994consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995cat. 6
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Goya. 250 AniversarioMuseo Nacional del PradoMadrid1996consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996cat. 34
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Tapices de GoyaMadridPatrimonio Nacional1946pp. 117, 245, cat. 39 y lám. 138
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L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 volsParís1928-1950vol. I, p. 89, cat. 30
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La pintura española fuera de EspañaMadridEspasa Calpe1958pp. 77, 156, cat. 870
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Goya, Saturno y melancolía. Consideraciones sobre el arte de GoyaStockholmAlquimis & Wiksell1962pp. 32-35 y p. 33 (il.)
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970pp. 76, 89, cat. 142
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BarcelonaPolígrafa1970vol. I, p. 249, cat. 93
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L’opera pittorica completa di GoyaMilanRizzoli1974pp. 95-96, cat. 100
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Francisco de Goya, 4 vols.ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja1980-1982vol. I, p. 115
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Francisco de Goya, cartones y tapicescol. col. "Espasa Arte"Espasa Calpe1987pp. 60, 111, 283, cat. 43C y pp. 112, 11
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Francisco de Goya. Los cartones para tapices y los comienzos de su carrera en la corte de Madridcol. col. "Ensayos de Arte Cátedra"MadridCátedra1987pp. 157, 159, 160 y p. 158 (il.)
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Goya. 250 AniversarioMadridMuseo del Prado1996pp. 313-314, cat. 34 y p. 109 (il.)
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Salas del Palacio Real de El Pardo para las que se tejieron tapices sobre cartones de Francisco de Goya: identificación de las habitaciones y ajuste de las obras de Goya en los alzados de las paredesin HERRERO CARRETERO, Concha (curator, Tapices y cartones de Goya (catalogue of the exhibition organizated at the Palacio Real de Madrid, from may to june 1996)MadridPatrimonio Nacional, Goya 96, Lunwerg1996p. 168 (il.)
