Francisco de Goya

As good as it gets

Clasificación
As good as it gets
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
200 x 151mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta y punta seca
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
11 Nov 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Tal para cual.  (in the lower part)

P.5. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

Only one state proof is known for this print in which the use of etching and the work prior to the use of aquatint can be seen. There are also retouches in black pencil with which Goya has enlarged the female figure's mantilla, shaded the face and neck with a kind of muslin, insisted on the central part of her arm between the sleeve and the elbow and shaded the lower part of the shoulder.

In the last state test, Goya went over these retouches with drypoint and made the mound on which the old women sit and the shaded part of the sky. Finally, he applied the coarse-grained aquatint in two dark tones following the wash of Dream no. 19.

Análisis artístico

In the centre of the scene a woman, holding a fan, is receiving the attentions of a man standing a little further back, who is courting her. Behind her, in the background, two women covered from head to foot in tunics appear to be engaged in conversation.

Goya has used strong, heavy inks in black, creating a dark atmosphere that suggests the possibility that this scene is taking place at night. The lightest areas of the print are the robes of the women in the background, as well as the face and generous cleavage of the young woman in the foreground.

The Ayala manuscript indicates that it is about María Luisa of Parma and Godoy, while the Prado Museum manuscript states the following: "It has often been argued whether men are worse than women, or the opposite. The vices of both come from bad education. Wherever men are perverse, women are also perverse. The young lady depicted in the print has as good a head as the greenhorn who is talking to her; and as for the old women, the one is as vile as the other". The manuscript in the National Library states: "The Queen and Godoy when he was a Guard, and they were mocked by the washerwomen. It represents a quotation that two procuresses have provided, and that they are laughing at, pretending to pray the rosary".

It is likely that this is not just a reference to Maria Luisa ofParma and Manuel Godoy, but rather a veiled allusion to prostitution. Perhaps the maja has shown up for a rendezvous arranged for her by the two old procuresses behind her, who murmur amusedly because, possibly, they know that the man has no money. In this sense, engraving no. 5, As good as it gets , is better understood thanks to the title of his preparatory drawing The Old Women Laugh Their Heads Off Because They Know He Doesn't Have a Quarter.

This courtship scene, in which a maja and a man talk standing up while being watched by two matchmakers, has certain analogies with Caprice No. 7, Nor so distinguishes her, and Caprice No. 27, Who else is surrendered?

Conservación

The plate is preserved in the National Chalcography (no. 176).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • Goya. La década de Los Caprichos
    Madrid
    1992
    organized by Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando sponsored by Fundación Central Hispano, Madrid, consultant editor Nigel Glendinnig. From October 26th 1992 to January 10th 1993
  • Francisco de Goya
    Museo d'Arte Moderna
    Lugano
    1996
    exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996
    Galerie Kornfeld
    Bern
    1996
    from November 21st 1996 to January 1997
  • Goya artista de su tiempo y Goya artista único
    The National Museum of Western Art
    Tokyo
    1999
    from December 1st to July 3th 1999
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • Goya. La imagen de la mujer
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2001
    from October 30th 2001 to February 10th 2002. Exhibitied also at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, March 10th to June 2nd 2002, consultant editor Francisco Calvo Serraller
  • Goya e la tradizione italiana
    Fondazione Magnani Rocca
    Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
    2006
    consultant editors Fred Licht and Simona Tosini Pizzetti. From September 9th to December 3th 2006
  • Goya. Opera grafica
    Pinacoteca del Castello di San Giorgio
    Legnano
    2006
    exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Madrid
    2017
  • Agen
    2019
  • Expérience Goya
    Lille
    2021
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    cat. 40, p.75
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.176, cat. 459
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel (Comisario)
    La década de los Caprichos. Retratos 1792-1804
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    p.118, cat. 69-73
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.76, cat. 93
  • BLAS BENITO, Javier, MATILLA RODRÍGUEZ, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    El libro de los caprichos: dos siglos de interpretaciones (1799-1999). Catálogo de los dibujos, pruebas de estado, láminas de cobre y estampas de la primera edición
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    1999
    pp.76-79
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 243
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • CALVO RUATA, José Ignacio, BORRÁS GUALIS, Gonzalo M. and MARTÍNEZ HERRANZ, Amparo
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón y Fundación Bancaria Ibercaja
    2017
    p. 265
  • MOTTIN, Bruno, EFEDAQUE, Adrien and WILSON-BAREU, Juliet
    Bibliography']['number
    AgenSnoeck
    2019
    p. 86
  • COTENTIN, Régis
    Expérience Goya (cat. expo)
    Bibliography']['number
    LilleRéunion des Musées Nationaux
    2021
    p. 86
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Bibliography']['number
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 30
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