Name: FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
Brand: El Agarrotado ('The garroted Man')
Price: 500.00 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
El Agarrotado ('The garroted Man')
etching with engraving
circa 1778-1780
on smooth wove paper, without watermark
a very good, clear impression from the small, second edition published circa 1830
before the bevelling of the plate
with wide margins, probably the full sheet
generally in very good condition
Plate 32,8 x 21,5 cm. (13 x 8³⁄₈ in.)
Sheet 44,7 x 31,8 cm. (17³⁄₄ x 12¹⁄₂ in.)

Richard H. Zinser (1884-1984), Forest Hills, New York (Lugt 5581).
Christie's, London, 19 April 1990, lot 120.
Acquired at the above sale; then by descent to the present owners.

L. Delteil, Le peintre graveur illustré - Francisco Goya, Paris, 1922, no. 21 (another impression ill.).
T. Harris, Goya - Engravings and Lithographs - Catalogue raisonné, Oxford, 1964, no. 21, pp. 40-41 (another impression ill.).

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

Goya's first works in the print medium were his etchings of 1778 after paintings by Velázquez (see lot 277). As the earliest etching of his own composition, El agarrotado stands at the beginning of his oeuvre as an independent printmaker. It is a bewildering choice of subject, as one must assume that the image of a garroted man would not have been easy to sell. Right from the beginning, Goya put his own artistic, moral and political interests above commercial considerations, as he would 35 years later with Los Desastres de la Guerra. Thus began his career as a printmaker - with a unflinching eye for human suffering and cruelty.