Francisco de Goya

Thanks to the grass pea (Gracias à la almorta)

Clasificación
Thanks to the grass pea (Gracias à la almorta)
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1812 - 1815
Dimensiones
156 x 205 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and burnished aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
15 Dec 2010 / 11 Jan 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

46 (on the lower left-hand corner).

Historia

See Sad presentiments of what must come to pass.

The title was handwritten on the print by Goya in the first and only series that is known to have been printed at the time the works were created, which the artist gave to his friend Agustín Ceán Bermúdez. Therefore, the title was etched into the plate at a later date and left unchanged as of the first edition of the Disasters of War printed by the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid in 1863, after the printing of the series in the possession of Ceán Bermúdez.

There is a surviving preparatory drawing for this print which is housed in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Análisis artístico

A woman whose face is invisible to the viewer and who is completely covered from head to foot is giving out food to a group of starving people. The food seems to be soup, most probably made with grass pea flour, as indicated by the print title. In the foreground is a woman lying on the ground dressed in white and clutching a spoon in her hand who holds out her plate with her outstretched arm. Behind her are three standing figures whose faces are caricatures: their pronounced jaws and cheekbones, sharp noses and sunken eyes denote that they have been suffered greatly during the famine that devastated Spain at the time of the Spanish War of Independence. The figures' clothing is eccentric and ragged garments obtained by any means possible during the war, some of which doubtless originally belonged to others. In the middle ground Goya has placed two women with spectral faces who have perhaps already consumed their ration of soup. They are clearly reminiscent of the figures depicted in another work by the artist, Old Women (Las viejas).

The grass pea was used as a substitute for other cereals during the war, since it would grow in extremely harsh conditions even if it was not well tended. Prolonged consumption of large quantities of this legume could lead to serious illnesses such as lathyrism, which causes spasmodic paraplegia and can cause serious growth problems in children. With the title of this work, Thanks to the grass pea, Goya makes reference to all the issues associated with this product. On the one hand, it served to alleviate hunger, but on the other hand it also caused diseases and even death. Perhaps this is the key to interpreting the sinister cloaked figure who gives out food to the needy, simultaneously contributing to the poisoning of all those who ate it.

Conservación

The plate is stored in the National Chalcography (cat. 302).

Exposiciones
  • Goya and his times
    The Royal Academy of Arts
    London
    1963
    cat. 66
  • 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
  • Francisco de Goya
    Museo d'Arte Moderna
    Lugano
    1996
    exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.
  • Francisco de Goya: Maleri, Tegning, Grafikk
    Nasjonalgalleriet
    Oslo
    1996
    from 10th to April 14th 1996
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • 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
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • BERUETE Y MONET, Aureliano de
    Goya, grabador
    MadridBlass S.A.
    1918
    cat. 153
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    cat. 171
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    cat. 1076
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 260
  • GALLEGO GARCÍA, Raquel
    Francisco de Goya. Los Desastres de la guerra
    BarcelonaLa Central
    2011
    p. 21
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 145
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 114-151
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 72
Enlaces externos
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