- Cronología
- Ca. 1797
- Ubicación
- The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Dimensiones
- 202 x 138 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Documented work
- Titular
- El Prado National Museum
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 20 Aug 2021 / 19 Apr 2023
- Inventario
- D3939
Esprit follet ou lutin (in pencil, bottom right)
10 (in pencil, bottom left)
25 (in pencil, lower left)
83 (in pencil, reverse)
The drawing passed by inheritance in 1828 to Javier Goya, the painter's son, and in 1854 to Mariano Goya y Goicoechea, the artist's grandson. It was subsequently owned by Valentín Carderera (ca. 1861) and Mariano Carderera (ca. 1880). In 1886 it was acquired from Mariano Carderera by the General Direction of Public Instruction and was assigned to the Prado Museum, where it entered on 12 November 1886.
In this drawing the general sense of the scene is not very clear. In the centre of the composition a stylised young woman with a generous décolleté is doing some work on a table while an old woman behind her seems to be ironing, judging by the iron next to her. At the level of the young woman's head is the figure of a figure who seems to be smiling at her and who, according to Lafuente Ferrari, would be a friar.
According to Gassier, the inscription added in French at the lower right is erroneous. Translated into English it means crazy or latin spirit, a phrase that has nothing to do with the context of this drawing. If Goya had made this inscription, we might think that we are looking at a young maja preparing to go out while the old woman helps her to groom herself.
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MadridMuseo del Prado1954n. 196
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p. 186, cat. 634
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Dibujos de Goya, 2 volsBarcelonaNoguer1975p. 175, cat. 138
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El mundo de Goya en sus dibujosMadridUrbión1979pp. 119-120
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ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja1980-1982p. 96