FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828), They've already got a seat (Ya tienen asiento) Plate 26 from: Los Caprichos

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
They've already got a seat (Ya tienen asiento)
Plate 26 from: Los Caprichos
etching with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving, on laid paper, a good impression from the First Edition, published by the artist, Madrid, 1799, with the delicate burnishing on the women’s capes which disappears in the second edition, framed
Plate: 8³⁄₈ x 6 in. (213 x 152 mm.)
Sheet: 11³⁄₄ x 8 in. (298 x 203 mm.)

Presumably Manuel Fernández Durán y Pando, Marqués de Perales del Río (1818-1886), Madrid.
Don Pedro Fernández-Durán (1846-1930), Madrid; with his stamp (Lugt 747b); presumably by descent from the above.
Don Tomas de la Maza y Saavedra (1896-1975); gift from the above.
With Herman Shickman Fine Arts, New York.
With Stuart Denenberg, Los Angeles.
Private American Collection; acquired from the above.

Delteil 63; Harris 61

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Lot Essay

Prado manuscript: ‘If conceited girls wish to have a seat, there is nothing better than putting it on their heads.’

'The title…plays on the different meanings which could be applied to the word asiento. It could mean ‘seat’ or ‘judgment’ or could mean, in the full phrase…to be ‘sitting pretty’. In any case, these young prostitutes with their bare legs, their skirts over their shoulders, and chairs on their heads are curious examples of Goya's vision of an unstable, topsy-turvy world where there is little or no firm ground on which to make judgments or take actions.'

Johnson, R. S., Francisco Goya, Los Caprichos, R.S. Johnson Fine Art, Chicago, 1992, p. 76.