Francisco de Goya

Rita Luna

Rita Luna
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1814 - 1818
Ubicación
Private collection
Dimensiones
43 x 35.5 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
Private collection
Ficha: realización/revisión
07 Apr 2010 / 16 Jun 2023
Inventario
-
Historia

In 1818, Mariano Goya found a number of works by his grandfather that had been hidden in a wardrobe. Among these works was this one, A portrait of the actress Rita-Luna from the time of Moratín (Un retrato de la Rita-Luna actriz del tiempo de Moratín), obviously painted sometime before 1818. Mariano, aware of Valentín Carderera's passion for collecting and willing to sell off Goya's estate, wrote a letter to Carderera in Huesca attaching a list of all of the pieces of interest that had been found, along with the price that he was asking for them. Carderera bought the lot.

This portrait later belonged to the collection of the Count of Oliva. It subsequently entered the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. In January 2007 it was acquired by a private collector at an auction held at Sotheby's in New York.

Análisis artístico

Rita Luna García (Malaga, 1770-Madrid, 1832) was a famous stage actress, the daughter of comical actors. She was at one time considered the greatest actress of her time, much to the dismay of her rival, María del Rosario Fernández, "La Tirana", whose portrait Goya also painted. She retired from the stage at the peak of her professional success, in 1806. Her final years were spent at the royal palace of El Pardo, where, according to Viñaza, this portrait was made, and where she carried out numerous charitable acts.

Here, Goya was not painting the famous actress in her moment of glory but rather the woman when she was older and living a quiet life. The bust portrait is dominated by the actress' sad, melancholy face. Her down-turned head is covered by a black shawl. She is depicted as an elegant señora, adorned with earrings and necklace and with her hair carefully styled. But all these details are eclipsed by the sorrow in her face.

The Count of La Viñaza mentions another portrait, of an unknown gentleman, made by Goya on canvas and affixed by the painter himself to a board so as to make a companion piece to that of Rita Luna. The man it depicts is probably also an actor.

Exposiciones
  • Pinturas de Goya
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1928
    consultant editor Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor. From Apri to -May 1928
  • Goya
    Ministry of Foreing Affairs
    Burdeos
    1951
    organized by the Bordeaux City Hall, consultant editor Gilberte Martin-Méry. From May 16th to June 30th 1951
  • Agen
    2019
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    París
    1928-1950
    vol. II, p. 174, cat. 461
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    pp. 298, 377, cat. 1565
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 368, cat. 656
  • ANGELIS, Rita de
    L’opera pittorica completa di Goya
    MilanRizzoli
    1974
    p. 130, cat. 596
  • VIÑAZA, Conde de la
    Goya, su tiempo, su vida, sus obras
    MadridTipografía de Manuel G. Hernández, Impresor de la Real Casa
    1887
    pp. 239, cat. LXIX y p. 259, cat. CVII
  • CAMÓN AZNAR, José
    Francisco de Goya, 4 vols.
    ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja
    1980-1982
    vol. IV, p. 66
  • MOTTIN, Bruno, EFEDAQUE, Adrien and WILSON-BAREU, Juliet
    AgenSnoeck
    2019
    p. 82
Enlaces externos
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