Francisco de Goya

A way of flying

Clasificación
A way of flying
Datos Generales
Cronología
1815 - 1816
Dimensiones
245 x 358 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta y punta seca
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Ficha: realización/revisión
22 Aug 2021 / 05 Jun 2023
Inventario
225
Historia

See Femenine folly.

The state proof before the aquatint in the Lazaro Galdiano Foundation in Madrid has the handwritten number 4 in the upper left-hand corner. Another state proof is known to be bound in the album of Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez's Bullfighting (British Museum, London) with the number 34 and the title A way of flying and Way of Flying and The Winged Man's Way of Being Able to Fly.

Análisis artístico

Men fly on mechanical devices with large bat-like wings, which they operate with their hands and feet by means of ropes. On their skulls they wear a large bird's head, which serves as a prow orientation or simply as a symbol to emulate the freedom of birds. The group is made up of five flying men. One of them, in the foreground, bends his legs to set the contraption in motion. The rest are distributed in the space with great harmony and proportion.

The characters fly in an immense, boundless night sky, soaring away into mysterious depths and heights. In this way, man is liberated and moves through infinite space with great freedom, an achievement achieved by human effort. Through the use of reason, man has invented an ingenuity that allows him to fly and conquer space where he achieves complete freedom, fulfilling his long-held dream of soaring the skies. Leonardo da Vinci had already envisaged this with mechanical devices very similar to those presented by Goya.

It is thought that this print was never intended by Goya as part of the Follies series, as it was bound in an album of Bullfighting that the painter gave to Ceán Bermúdez. Furthermore, there are other indications that it was not intended as an integral part of the series. It manifests a positive vision that is not typical of the Follies, showing man as responsible for the achievement of flight. This optimism is most evident in the state proofs without aquatint, in which the dark sky is not yet present. It is possible that Goya devised the daytime print, as the preparatory drawing for it is. When the aquatint was applied to the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts edition in 1864, its appearance became much more sombre and in keeping with the spirit of the series, to which it would have been incorporated at a later date. The fact that the manuscript title on the state proofs does not include the word follie, as is usual in the series, also seems to exclude the initial belonging of this print to the series.

Exposiciones
  • Goya
    Musée Jacquemart-André
    París
    1961
    consultant editor Jean-Gabriel Domergue. From December 1961 to February 1962
  • Etchings by Francosco Goya
    Johannesburgo
    Johannesburgo
    1974
  • Boston
    1974
  •  Grabados de Goya: colección propiedad de la Biblioteca Nacional, que se conserva en su Gabinete de
    Casa de la Amistad de Moscú
    Moscow
    1979
    exhibition displayed from January 18th to 31st 1979
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • Goya y el espíritu de la Ilustración
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1988
    from October 6th to December 18th 1988. Exhibited also at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 18th to March 26th 1989; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York, May 9th to July 16th 1989, Madrid curator Manuela B. Mena Marqués, scientific directors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Eleanor A. Sayre
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • 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
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
  • Goya grabador
    Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo
    Marbella
    1996
    from March 8th to May 5th 1996
  • Zaragoza
    1996
  • London
    1997
  • 1999
  • Madrid
    1999
  • Schlaf der Vernunft. Original radierungen von Francisco de Goya
    Munich
    2000
  • Goya en tiempos de guerra
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2008
    consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués, from April 14th to July 13th 2008
  • Bilbao
    2012
  • Goya luces y sombras
    CaixaForum
    Barcelona
    2012
    consultant editors José Manuel Matilla and Manuela B. Marqués. From March 16th to June 24th 2012
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Madrid
    2017
  • Agen
    2019
  • Madrid
    2019
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p. 395, cat. 260
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 326, cat. 1591
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p. 241, cat. 387-388
  • CARRETE, Juan, MATILLA, José Manuel, AULLÓN DE HARO, Pedro, BOZAL, Valeriano, GLENDINNING, Nigel, VEGA, Jesusa y BLAS, Javier
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando y Calcografía Nacional
    1996
    pp. 107 y 111, cat. 13 y 33
  • MATILLA, José Manuel
    Roma Edizioni de Luca
    2000
    pp. 136-137, cat. 45
  • MATILLA, José Manuel
    MadridMuseo Nacional y Ediciones El Viso
    2008
    pp. 484-485, cat. 180
  • VEGA, Jesusa
    MadridConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
    2010
    pp. 210-211
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 274
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    pp. 310-315
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 204-211
  • CALVO RUATA, José Ignacio, BORRÁS GUALIS, Gonzalo M. and MARTÍNEZ HERRANZ, Amparo
    ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón y Fundación Bancaria Ibercaja
    2017
    p. 271
  • MOTTIN, Bruno, EFEDAQUE, Adrien and WILSON-BAREU, Juliet
    AgenSnoeck
    2019
    p. 122
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MENA, Manuela B. (comisarios)
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2019
    p. 245
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