FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828), A bad night (Mala noche) Plate 36 from: Los Caprichos

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
A bad night (Mala noche)
Plate 36 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, the complex highlights on the central figure printing well, the background in the upper half rich, dark and even, 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 73; Harris 71

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Lot Essay

‘Here Goya depicts the wind to great advantage, creating an elegant composition of flowing drapery...Three women endure the storm, their wind-whipped shawls and skirts echoed by the limbs of distant bending trees. Goya lavishes attention on the foremost figure, who stands with her back towards us, the curves of her hips and thighs revealed through carefully burnished aquatint tone. What makes these women endure such weather? A contemporary interpretation gives us the answer: ‘Business goes bad when the wind, and not money, lifts the skirts of these good girls'.

Stepanek, S.L., Tomlinson, J., Wilson-Bareau, J., Mena Marqués, M.B., et al, Goya: Order & Disorder, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2014, p. 214.