- Cronología
- 1786
- Ubicación
- The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Dimensiones
- 279 x 28 cm
- Técnica y soporte
- Oil on canvas
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Attributed work
- Titular
- El Prado National Museum
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 16 Dec 2009 / 14 Jun 2023
- Inventario
- (P07346)
- Otros títulos:
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Magpie in a Tree (La marica en un árbol)
See The Flower Girls.
This cartoon appears in the inventory that Vicente López carried out in 1834, where it was attributed to José del Castillo, but it is not in the list of works presented by this artist nor does it feature in his invoices from the tapestry factory.
Around 1856 or 1857, the cartoon was moved from the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara to the Palacio de Oriente in Madrid, and it remained in the tapestry basements until, under orders given on 18 January and 9 February 1870, it was taken to the Prado Museum that same year. Lost in the museum collection ever since, it was finally discovered in 1987.
Some birds rest on the branches of a tree. They can be clearly identified as a magpie and a male finch, the latter thanks to its reddish colouring.
Sambricio attributed the work to Goya because the dimensions were identical to those of the seventh stretcher in the records of the carpenter, Josef Serrano, and because the cartoon did not appear in any of the invoices from the other painters who worked with the tapestry factory, meaning that it had to be by either Ramón Bayeu or Francisco de Goya, since they were the only artists not to issue bills for their own works. Arnaiz goes further and draws parallels between this cartoon and that of Boy and a Tree, made to decorate the antechamber to the bedroom of the Prince and Princess in the palace of El Pardo. In both cartoons, the birds are similar, as well as the trees, the leaves in the foreground and the stream, motifs that can be found in other documented works by Goya.
However, Tomlinson expresses her doubts about the Goya's authorship, although she admits that it cannot be ruled out entirely.
The work underwent restoration at the Prado Museum in 1987.
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Goya. 250 AniversarioMuseo Nacional del PradoMadrid1996consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996cat. 47
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Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794Museo Nacional del PradoMadrid2014p. 300
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Tapices de GoyaMadridPatrimonio Nacional1946p. 263, cat. 52
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BarcelonaPolígrafa1970vol. I, p. 270, cat. 232
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Novedades en torno a una serie de cartones de GoyaBoletín del Museo Nacional del PradoMadrid1984pp. 41-46
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Francisco de Goya, cartones y tapicescol. col. "Espasa Arte"Espasa Calpe1987pp. 149-152, 301, cat. 56C
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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. 205-206
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Goya. 250 AniversarioMadridMuseo del Prado1996p. 326, cat. 47 y p. 125 (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. 165 (il.)
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Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado2014p. 300