Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
1786 - 1787
Ubicación
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, United States
Dimensiones
127.2 x 112.1 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
The Art Institute of Chicago
Ficha: realización/revisión
14 Dec 2009 / 14 Jun 2023
Inventario
(1979.479)
Historia

This is one of the six overdoor pieces made to decorate the king's conversation room in the palace of El Pardo and which we know of thanks to the account left by the carpenter Josef Serrano, dated 17 November 1786. The others were Boys with Hunting Dogs, Hunter beside a Spring, Shepherd Playing a Dulzaina, Two Cats Fighting on a Wall and Birds in Flight.

From the Royal Tapestry Factory it entered the private collection of the director, Livinio Stuyck. In 1911 it was sold to the Knoedler & Co. collection, in New York. Later on it was the property of Charles Deering up until 1922, when it found its way into the Chauncey Brooks Mac-Cormick collection, Chicago. Mr and Mrs Brooks donated it to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1979.

Análisis artístico

The tapestry would have hung on the west side of the room, flanking that of The Flower Girls and forming a pair with Boys with Hunting Dogs.

A boy of around ten years of age, elegantly dressed and clearly belonging to a wealthy family, rides on top of a ram whilst brandishing a branch as an improvised riding whip and advancing towards the viewer. The low viewpoint and the foreshortening, the result of the work having been designed to be viewed from below, bestow upon the figures a monumental quality. In the background, a brightly-lit landscape recalls the one which Goya would later use as the backdrop for several portraits, such as that of The Marchioness of Pontejos.

Some writers consider this cartoon, of which no sketch is known, to be a simple anecdotal representation of a boy at play. Goya's skill in portraying children, capturing their vitality and the candidness of their gaze, as well as the tenderness of their years, stands out here. This was not the first occasion that Goya painted children, and as such this virtuoso display should come as no surprise.

Tomlinson relates this cartoon to spring, due to the presence of the ram, Aries in the zodiac, the first sign of spring. She also sees a clear connection between this well-dressed boy, who resembles Manuel Osorio, and the lower nobility represented in other cartoons made for this same room. She believes that the combined representation of childhood and this unusual mount responds to the zodiacal traditions of the seasons and the ages of man.

Exposiciones
  • Goya 1900
    Ministerio de Instrucción Pública and Bellas Artes
    Madrid
    1900
    consultant editors Aureliano de Beruete, Alejandro Ferrant, Marqués de Pidal and Ricardo Velázquez. May 1900
  • Pinturas de Goya
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1928
    consultant editor Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor. From Apri to -May 1928
  • A Century of Progress. Exhibition of Paintings and Sculptures
    The Art Institute of Chicago
    Chicago
    1933
    from June 1st to November 1st 1933
  • The art of Goya. Paintings, drawings and prints
    The Art Institute of Chicago
    Chicago
    1941
    from January 30th to March 2nd 1941
  • Obras maestras de la pintura española de los siglos XVI al XIX
    Museo Pushkin
    Moscow
    1980
    Exhibited also at the State Hermitage Museum, San Petersburgo
  • Goya
    Nationalmuseum
    Stockholm
    1994
    consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    París
    1928-1950
    vol. I, p. 104, cat. 45
  • SAMBRICIO, Valentín de
    Tapices de Goya
    MadridPatrimonio Nacional
    1946
    pp. 141, 149, 257, cat. 46 y lám. 161
  • GAYA NUÑO, Juan Antonio
    La pintura española fuera de España
    MadridEspasa Calpe
    1958
    pp. 77, 161, cat. 915
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    pp. 79, 97, cat. 268
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, pp. 269-270, cat. 226
  • ANGELIS, Rita de
    L’opera pittorica completa di Goya
    MilanRizzoli
    1974
    p. 102, cat. 206
  • CAMÓN AZNAR, José
    Francisco de Goya, 4 vols.
    ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja
    1980-1982
    vol. II, p. 43
  • ARNAIZ, José Manuel
    Francisco de Goya, cartones y tapices
    col. col. "Espasa Arte"
    Espasa Calpe
    1987
    pp. 147, 295, cat. 50C
  • TOMLINSON, Janis A.
    Francisco de Goya. Los cartones para tapices y los comienzos de su carrera en la corte de Madrid
    col. col. "Ensayos de Arte Cátedra"
    MadridCátedra
    1987
    pp. 221, 222 y p. 219 (il.)
  • LUNA, Juan J. (Comisario)
    Goya. 250 Aniversario
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1996
    p. 322, cat. 42 y p. 123 (il.)
  • SANCHO, José Luis
    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 paredes
    in 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, Lunwerg
    1996
    p. 165 (il.)
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B. y MAURER, Gudrun (comisarias)
    Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2014
    p. 215
Enlaces externos
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