Francisco de Goya

Majas on a Balcony (Majas al balcón)

Majas on a Balcony (Majas al balcón)
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1808 - 1814
Ubicación
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
Dimensiones
194.9 x 125.7 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Attributed work
Titular
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ficha: realización/revisión
21 Apr 2010 / 14 Jun 2023
Inventario
(1975.1.148)
Historia

It has been suggested that this work was perhaps destined to be a companion to a replica of Old Women or Time.

The piece was sold in Paris in 1867, when it belonged to the collection of the Marquis of Salamanca. It was then the property of the infante Sebastián de Bourbon-Braganza. It was inherited by his son, the Duke of Marchena, and was acquired in 1905 by Durand Ruel, who had a collection in Paris. Later, it belonged to the Havemeyer collection in New York, and finally passed to the Metropolitan Museum of New York in 1930.

Análisis artístico

This work is a second version of a work of the same name which is housed in a private collection in Switzerland. The two works are almost identical, although there are a few clear differences between them. This piece is somewhat larger, and is not cut off on the left-hand side like the other: it seems that it was never resized. In this painting, the face of the woman on the left is exposed, while in the other it was partially covered by the black veil in a very suggestive way. Moreover, in this painting she holds her fan in her right hand - in the other, it is in her left.

The execution of this work is precise and painstaking, making it less attractive than the version preserved in the Swiss collection. This is evident in the execution of the lace of the veils, whose transparency in this painting is of a lesser quality, not so subtly achieved.

Not all academics accept this to be an authentic Goya.

There is a third version which is attributed by Desparmet Fitz-Gerald to Leonardo Alenza, housed in the Serafín de la Huerta collection. It came into the possession of the Marquis of Salamanca once again, and on its sale in Paris for the second time by this owner it was acquired by the Pierre Bordeaux Groult collection in Paris in 1875.

Exposiciones
  • The H.O. Havemeyer Collection
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    New York
    1930
    from March 10th to November 2nd 1930
  • Goya and his times
    The Royal Academy of Arts
    London
    1963
    cat. 66
  • Splendid legacy: The Havemeyer Collection
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    New York
    1993
    consultant editors Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen and Gary Tinterow. From March 27th to June 20th 1993
  • Goya in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    New York
    1995
    consultant editors Colta Ives and Susan Alyson Stein. From September 12th to December 31st 1995
  • Agen
    2019
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    París
    1928-1950
    vol. I, p. 222, cat. 187
  • SÁNCHEZ CANTÓN. Francisco Javier
    Las versiones de «Las majas al balcón»
    Archivo Español de Arte
    1952
    pp. 336-338
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    pp. 256, 266, cat. 960
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 349, cat. 576
  • ANGELIS, Rita de
    L’opera pittorica completa di Goya
    MilanRizzoli
    1974
    p. 121, cat. 472
  • CAMÓN AZNAR, José
    Francisco de Goya, 4 vols.
    ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja
    1980-1982
    vol. III, p. 183
  • STEIN, Susan Alyson and IVES, Colta
    Goya in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
    New YorkThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
    1995
    p. 65 (il.)
  • MOTTIN, Bruno, EFEDAQUE, Adrien and WILSON-BAREU, Juliet
    AgenSnoeck
    2019
    p. 96
  • www.metmuseum.org, consulted 22-04-2010
    22-04-2010
Enlaces externos
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