Eugenio Lucas

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Eugenio Lucas
1817-1870
Priest Declaiming
ca. 1850
Black chalk and brown wash on wove paper.
6 1/4 x 8 7/8 inches (159 x 225 mm)
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1909.
I, 111e
Notes: 

After Goya.
Formerly attributed to Anonymous, Spanish School, mid-19th cent.
This drawing of an orating priest, gesticulating and brandishing a document, attests to Lucas's affinity with the art of Goya. The masklike faces of the protagonist and onlookers suggest a macabre scene, and the stage from which the priest proclaims adds a theatrical element to the episode. With this work, Lucas not only demonstrated his debt to his predecessor but also paved the way toward an abbreviated approach to figurative expression, foreshadowing his more abstract works. --Exhibition Label, from "Visions and Nightmares: Four Centuries of Spanish Drawings"

Provenance: 
Leo S. Olschki, Florence; purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1909 (as Francisco de Goya).
Associated names: 

Goya, Francisco, 1746-1828, After.
Fortuny, Mariano, 1838-1874, Formerly attributed to.
Anonymous, Spanish School, 19th cent., Formerly attributed to.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

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