- Cronología
- Ca. 1810 - 1815
- Ubicación
- The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Dimensiones
- 134 x 186 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Ink, sepia wash and sanguine on paper
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Undisputed work
- Titular
- El Prado National Museum
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 29 Nov 2010 / 01 Jun 2023
- Inventario
- (D4271)
21 (lower left-hand corner).
This drawing, just like the set of preparatory drawings made for the other prints in the series, formed part of the Carderera collection before arriving at the Prado Museum, where it is currently housed.
Goya has sketched out here on paper a reversed but otherwise almost unchanged image of what was later to become the finished print. The artist worked hard in this case to produce an image that would very closely resemble the subsequent etching. The archway in the background is drawn as a solid black surface, and the French soldier and the woman whom he has seized by the wrists both wear white clothes which draw our eye to them. At the woman's feet we see a naked child, crying, and, behind them, another woman and soldier locked in a violent struggle. Also included in the background is the church, visible through the archway. However, in the darkness, Goya has also sketched out a woman clutching a dagger in her hands, with which she defends herself against a figure lying prone on the ground. Later on, when he makes the print, the artist changes his mind and replaces these two characters with a single, crouching figure. The decision to choose this static figure for the background was probably made so as not to distract the viewer from the two struggling figures placed in the foreground.
Enrique Lafuente Ferrari has emphasized the Rembrandtesque character of the composition, in which Goya uses a more complex and refined technique than in many of the other preparatory drawings for the series, where he works with sanguine, since here he also makes use of a sepia wash.
This drawing was not transferred to the copperplate.
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Goya: Drawings and PrintsThe Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York1955from May 4th to 30th 1955cat. 46
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Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)Hamburger KunsthalleHamburg1980cat. 73
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GoyaKoninklijke Musea Voor Schone Kunsten Van BelgiëBrussels1985consultant editor Luis González Seara. From October 26th to December 22nd 1985cat. D38
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Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalBiblioteca NacionalMadrid1996from September 19th to December 15th 1996cat. 215
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MadridMuseo del Prado1954n. 87
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970cat. 1008
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Dibujos de Goya, 2 volsBarcelonaNoguer1975cat. 171
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El mundo de Goya en sus dibujosMadridUrbión1979pp. 137-138