Francisco de Goya

The Fire Eater

Clasificación
The Fire Eater
Datos Generales
Cronología
1816 - 16819
Ubicación
The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Dimensiones
230 x 325 mm
Técnica y soporte
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
El Prado National Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
19 Aug 2021 / 13 Apr 2023
Inventario
D4282
Inscripciones

1 (in pencil composite, lower left)

196 (in pencil, reverse, lower left)

196 [below sticker] (in pencil, reverse, upper right)

24 (in pencil, reverse side, top centre)

12 [on label covering part of the words "no [gra]bada"] (in pencil, verso, upper left-hand side)

no [gra]bada [under label] (in pencil, reverse, upper left)

MP Inventory DRAWINGS no. 196 (stamped, reverse, upper right-hand corner)

Watermark: "MANUEL SERRA" (right half)

Historia

The drawing was inherited in 1828 by Javier Goya, the painter's son, and in 1854 by Mariano Goya y Goicoechea, the artist's grandson. It was subsequently owned by Valentín Carderera (ca. 1861) and Mariano Carderera (ca. 1880). In 1886 it was acquired from Mariano Carderera by the Directorate General of Public Instruction and was assigned to the Prado Museum, where it entered on 12 November 1886.

Análisis artístico

See People in sacks

Drawing traditionally ascribed to the series of preparatory drawings for the Follies, on the basis of its technical and compositional similarity and the paper used. However, it does not correspond to any of the prints in the engraved series.

This scene demonstrates Goya's interest in scenes drawn from reality, in this case a street performance by a fire-eater. Perched on a stage, the artist emits a puff of fire with grandiloquent gestures. Behind him, the bottle in which he keeps the flammable liquid can be seen. The spectators are arranged in a roughly drawn horizontal strip running down the middle of the stage.

In his private sketchbooks, Goya also drew inspiration from fairs and other similar spectacles. This is the case of Puppets in a Village or Crowd Making a Circle in Notebook F. In the final sketchbooks, produced during his exile in Bordeaux, Goya also recurrently depicted various characters or curiosities that he witnessed at the fairs in the French city. This is the case of Fair in Bordeaux; Four-stranded Snake in Bordeaux; Crocodile in Bordeaux or Claude Antoine Seurat called the Living Skeleton in Bordeaux.

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • Permanencia de la memoria, cartones para tapiz y dibujos de Goya
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    1997
    organized by Gobierno de Aragón, Museo Nacional del Prado and Patrimonio Nacional, consultant editor Fernando Checa Cremades. From February 14th to April 6th 1997
  • Madrid
    1999
  • Goya
    Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini
    Roma
    2000
    consultant editors Lorenza Mochi Onori and Claudio Strinati. From March 18th to June 18th 2000
Bibliografía
  • CAMÓN AZNAR, José
    1951
    p. 51
  • SÁNCHEZ CANTÓN, Francisco Javier
    Los dibujos de Goya, 2 vols.
    MadridAmigos del Museo del Prado
    1954
    s. p., cat. 392
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, p. 4101, cat. 269e
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 327, cat. 1609
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Dibujos de Goya, 2 vols
    BarcelonaNoguer
    1975
    pp. 466-467, cat. 307
  • MATILLA, José Manuel
    Roma Edizioni de Luca
    2000
    pp. 146-147, cat. 52
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