Francisco Goya

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Francisco Goya
1746-1828
Madness (Locura)
ca. 1819-1823
Gray wash on laid paper.
8 7/8 x 5 1/2 inches (225 x 140 mm)
Thaw Collection.
2017.105
Notes: 

Compared to the earlier sheets from the Madrid Album, the boldness and simplicity of Goya's later drawings, with their stripped-down presentation, are striking. Gone are the depictions of festively dressed young majas and the richly washed backgrounds. Instead, we find an elderly man--isolated on the page and in his dementia-- behind a railing or walking device, staring in distress, mouth agape, hands uplifted in outrage, a fool's cap perched on his head. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"

Inscription: 

Inscribed by the artist in black chalk at lower center: "Locura". Numbered by the artist in brush and brown wash at upper center, "11"; above this, numbered in pen and brown ink by Javier Goya, "21".

Provenance: 
Paul Lebas, Paris; sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 3 April 1877, no. 20 (as Il le guérit"); E. Calando (Lugt 837), Paris; his sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 11-12 December 1899, part of lot 75; Camille Groult (1832-1908), Paris; Paul Brame, Paris; Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York; R.M. Light & Company, Inc., Boston; Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw, New York.
Associated names: 

Lebas, Paul, former owner.
Calando, Eugene, former owner.
Groult, Camille, 1832-1908, former owner.
Brame, Paul, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.

Bibliography: 

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 178, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 64.

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