Francisco de Goya

Saint Francis Borgia Assisting a Dying Man (San Francisco de Borja asistiendo a un moribundo) (sketch)

Saint Francis Borgia Assisting a Dying Man (San Francisco de Borja asistiendo a un moribundo) (sketch)
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1788
Ubicación
Private collection
Dimensiones
38 x 29.3 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Titular
Private collection
Ficha: realización/revisión
01 Jan 2010 / 28 Jun 2023
Inventario
-
Historia

This is the sketch for the painting located in the right-hand side of the chapel of Saint Francis Borgia in Valencia Cathedral.

It belonged to the collection of Mr. Francisco Acebal y Arratia and later passed to the Marchioness of Santa Cruz in Madrid. The sketch remained there until it was acquired by its current owner. Its history has always been linked to that of the cartoon of its companion painting Saint Francis Saying Goodbye to his Family.

Análisis artístico

The scene essentially maintains the same composition that we see in the definitive work; however, there are some differences in this sketch which make it a more tense and anguished piece. The monsters in this sketch are more terrifying, while in the final piece they acquire a more human aspect, though they retain their brutish nature. The impenitent twists more violently, clenching his fist, his legs shaking, as expressed by the highlighting Goya has applied to the green bedcover. The saint is placed closer to the sick man, almost opposite the viewer, looking at the floor in order to avoid the horrible appearance of the man who will be exorcised with the miraculous blood of Christ which spurts from the crucifix. Plaster moulding decorates the window with cross arms which would not appear in the final canvas.

The red ground of the canvas is visible in many sections of the painting, above all in the area of the bed.

According to Wilson, this is an earthly composition which was made more elegant to decorate Valencia Cathedral, although the definitive work and its companion painting mark a change in Goya's religious work, which acquires a more realistic air despite the addition of monsters.

Exposiciones
  • Pinturas de Goya
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1928
    consultant editor Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor. From Apri to -May 1928
  • Goya and his times
    The Royal Academy of Arts
    London
    1963
    cat. 66
  • El arte europeo en la corte de España durante el siglo XVIII
    Galerie des Beaux-Arts
    Burdeos
    1979
    Exhibitied also at Grand Palais, París y Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
  • Goya en las colecciones madrileñas
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1983
    consultant editor Enrique Lafuente Ferrari. From April 19th to June 20th 1983
  • Goya. El Capricho y la Invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1993
    from November 18th 1993 to February 15th 1994. Exhibited also at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, March 18th to June 12th 1994 and The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, July 16th to October 16th 1994, consultant editors Manuela B. Mena Marqués and Juliet Wilson-Bareau
  • Francisco de Goya: Maleri, Tegning, Grafikk
    Nasjonalgalleriet
    Oslo
    1996
    from 10th to April 14th 1996
  • Goya y Maella en Valencia. Del boceto al cuadro de altar
    Catedral y Museo de Bellas Artes
    Valencia
    2002
    organized by Subsecretaría de Promoción Cultural de la Generalitat Valenciana, Consorcio de Museos de la Comunitad Valenciana, Arzobispado de Valencia and Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia, consultant editor Benito Navarrete Prieto. From March to May 2002
  • Goya: Prophet der Moderne
    Alte Nationalgalerie
    Berlin
    2005
    from July 13th to October 3th 2005. Exhibitied also at the Kunsthistorischemuseum, Vienna, October 18th 2005 to January 8th 2006, consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués
  • Agen
    2019
  • Goya
    Basle
    2021
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    París
    1928-1950
    p. 128, cat. 83
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    pp. 57, 96, cat. 244
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 275, cat. 259
  • ANGELIS, Rita de
    L’opera pittorica completa di Goya
    MilanRizzoli
    1974
    p. 103, cat. 227
  • CAMÓN AZNAR, José
    Francisco de Goya, 4 vols.
    ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja
    1980-1982
    vol. II, p. 62 y p. 69 (il.)
  • MENA, Manuela B. y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1993
    pp. 146-151, cat. 17 y p. 149 (il.)
  • NAVARRETE PRIETO, Benito (comisario)
    Goya y Maella en Valencia. Del boceto al cuadro de altar
    ValenciaGeneralitat Valenciana
    2002
    pp. 98-102, cat. 10
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