Name: FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828) AFTER DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ (1599-1660)
Brand: Los Borrachos ('Bacchus' or 'The Drunkards')
Price: 1500.00 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828) AFTER DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ (1599-1660)
Los Borrachos ('Bacchus' or 'The Drunkards')
etching
1778
on heavy laid paper, watermark Serra
a very good, clear impression of this rare print
from the First Edition, printed at the Calcografia, 1778-79
just beginning to show some minor wear
with wide margins, presumably the full sheet
a tear in the upper margin, some pale scattered foxing and surface dirt, mainly in the margins
generally in good condition
Plate 32 x 41 cm. (12¹⁄₂ x 16¹⁄₈ in.)
Sheet 43,8 x 61,3 cm. (17¹⁄₄ x 24 in.)

Christie's, London, 7 December 1984, lot 649.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.

L. Delteil, Le peintre graveur illustré - Francisco Goya, Paris, 1922, no. 4 (another impression ill.).
T. Harris, Goya - Engravings and Lithographs - Catalogue raisonné, Oxford, 1964, no. 4, pp. 8-9 (another impression ill.).

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Lot Essay

Los Borrachos is one of a series of 19 etchings Goya made after Velazquez’s paintings in the Spanish Royal Collection (see lot 277). They were printed, published and advertised for sale in the Gazeta de Madrid between 1778-9 . These etchings were not mere copies after Velazquez’s but creative interpretations of the paintings. Their autonomy is particularly evident in Los Borrachos, as Goya depicts Bacchus as a man of physical labour, not dissimilar to the workers around him, and not as a god as in Velazquez’s painting.
The present fine impression is from the First Edition, the only lifetime edition, made by Goya at the Calcografía around 1778-9. Tomás Harris states that this edition appears to have been very small and early impressions are hence extremely rare.