Francisco de Goya

The Dream of Saint Joseph (El sueño de San José)

Clasificación
The Dream of Saint Joseph (El sueño de San José)
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1771 - 1773
Ubicación
Museum of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
Dimensiones
128 x 93 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil mural painting transferred to canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Attributed work
Titular
Government of Aragon
Ficha: realización/revisión
05 Oct 2010 / 13 Jun 2023
Inventario
(09260)
Historia

This painting formed part of a set commissioned by Joaquín Cayetano Cavero Ahones y Pueyo de la Sierra (1735-1788), the Count of Sobradiel, to decorate the walls and ceiling of the oratory of his palace in Zaragoza, a building located in plaza de la Justicia which now houses the Illustrious Association of Notaries of Aragón.

Some time before 1926, the painting was lifted from the wall and transferred to canvas on the orders of Joaquín Cavero Sichar, Count of Gabarda. After his death, the Countess deposited the painting in the Provincial Museum of Zaragoza in 1929. Although it was acquired in 1930 by the Cuban Carlos Francisco Javier del Valle Grao, it remained in the museum's collection due to its poor state of conservation. In 1965 it was bought by the museum for 200,000 pesetas thanks to public subscription and various fundraising activities. It was restored twice (in 1966 and 1974) and definitively became part of the collection on 13 March 1976.

Análisis artístico

According to a written description by Ricardo del Arco (1915), this painting was located on the right-hand wall of the oratory opposite Visitation (La Visitación), and had already suffered serious damage in its original location due to a crack in the wall.

The subject corresponds with the events narrated in the Gospel of Saint Matthew (1:20). Saint Joseph is shown sitting on a step and leaning on a pedestal, wrapped in a yellow blanket. A young angel speaks to him as he sleeps. Some architectural elements are visible in the middle ground of the room where the scene takes place. In the lower right-hand corner of the foreground we can see the flowering staff and a red cloak, while the Virgin Mary is depicted in a sitting position in the background on the left.

The scene is composed using visibly rigid parallel diagonal lines, repeating with slight variations the model created by the French painter Simon Vouet (1590-1649) for a lost work produced around 1638 in oil on wooden panel. That painting formed part of the decoration of the Chapel d'Hachères in the Church of the Feuillants in rue Saint-Honoré in Paris: Goya had the opportunity to observe it in the form of a print version produced by Michel Dorigny.

Conservación

The work underwent restoration work in 1966 at the Institute of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Madrid and subsequently in 1974.

Exposiciones
  • Exposición de obras de Goya y de objetos que recuerdan las manufacturas artísticas de su época
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    1928
    organized by la Real Academia de Nobles y Bellas Artes de San Luis in collaboration with the Junta del Patronato del Museo Provincial. April 1928
  • Realidad e imagen. Goya 1746 – 1828
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    1996
    consultant editor Federico Torralba Soriano. From October 3th to December 1st 1996
  • Goya y el Palacio de Sobradiel
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    2006
    organized by Gobierno de Aragón at the Museo de Zaragoza, consultant editor Juan Carlos Lozano López. From December 15th 2006 to February 4th 2007
  • Goya e Italia
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    2008
    organized by the Fundación Goya en Aragóna, consultant editor Joan Sureda Pons. From June 1st to September 15th 2008
Bibliografía
  • ARCO, Ricardo del
    Pinturas de Goya (inéditas) en el palacio de los condes de Sobradiel de Zaragoza
    Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones
    Bibliography']['number
    1915
    pp.124-131
  • MILICUA, José
    “Anotaciones al Goya joven”
    Paragone
    Bibliography']['number
    1954
    pp. 5-28
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    pp. 81, cat. 10
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    Bibliography']['number
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 238, cat. 17
  • TORRALBA SORIANO, Federico
    Goya en Aragón
    Bibliography']['number
    Editorial Everest
    1970
    p. 20
  • BELTRÁN, Antonio
    Goya en Zaragoza
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaAyuntamiento de Zaragoza
    1971
    pp. 37-46
  • MORALES Y MARÍN, José Luis
    Datos inéditos y precisiones iconográficas y estilísticas sobre las pinturas que decoraban el oratorio del palacio de los condes de Sobradiel en Zaragoza, originales de Francisco de Goya
    Archivo Español de Arte
    Bibliography']['number
    1990
    pp. 59-67
  • MORALES Y MARÍN, José Luis
    Goya. Pintor religioso
    Bibliography']['number
    Diputación General de Aragón
    1990
    pp. 70 y ss.
  • ANSÓN NAVARRO, Arturo
    Goya y Aragón. Familia, amistades y encargos artísticos
    col. Col. Mariano de Pano y Ruata
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada de Aragón
    1995
    pp. 94-98
  • TORRALBA SORIANO, Federico (comisario)
    Realidad e imagen. Goya 1746 – 1828
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridGobierno de Aragón y Electa España
    1996
    pp. 60-61
  • LOZANO LÓPEZ, Juan Carlos (comisario)
    Goya y el Palacio de Sobradiel
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón, Dpto. de Educación, Cultura y Deporte
    2008
    p. 232
  • SUREDA PONS, Joan (comisario)
    Goya e Italia, 2 vols.
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaFundación Goya en Aragón y Turner
    2008
    vol. II, pp.126
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B. et al.
    Goya y Zaragoza (1746-1775). Sus raíces aragonesas
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaFundación Goya en Aragón, Ibercaja y Gobierno de Aragón
    2015
    pp. 63-66
Enlaces externos
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