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Extravagant Folly
Disparate Ridiculo (Ridiculous Folly); from a set of "Disparates" series [published as the Proverbios] , plate 3
Extravagant Folly
Francisco Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828)
Drawn and etched about 1815–19; printed about 1848
Medium/Technique
Etching, aquatint, drypoint and tonal scratches; posthumous impression, early trial proof
On slightly textured, medium weight, grayish, cream wove paper, without watermark
On slightly textured, medium weight, grayish, cream wove paper, without watermark
Dimensions
Platemark: 24.2 x 35 cm (9 1/2 x 13 3/4 in.)
Sheet: 26.3 x 37.4 cm (10 3/8 x 14 3/4 in.)
Sheet: 26.3 x 37.4 cm (10 3/8 x 14 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds by exchange from the bequest of Horatio Greenough Curtis and the Harvey D. Parker Collection—Harvey Drury Parker Fund
Accession Number1973.701.3
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
Catalogue Raisonné
Harris 250, II, 1; Delteil 0204
DescriptionGray/black ink, clean wiped, Beveled plate
Posthumous impression with additional lavis (or emery stone) and scratches,
This impession is a new early state taken before additional burnishing of etched lines on the headdress of the woman at far left noted by van Baeyer (2016).
From a pre-publication loosely bound set of 18 prints (printed about 1848-54). Within a tan paper with the inscription "GOYA / Los Proverbios / Madrid hacia 1848".
The flyleaf of the set carries inscriptions by previous owner, Philip Hofer, including his printed label, and "Bought years ago - ca. 1938 [corrected to 1928] - Emil Hirsch in Munich."
The preferred series title "Disparates" (Follies or Absurdities) is derived from titles in Goya's hand on fourteen of the working proofs, of which this subject is one (Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madris). A. Beruete (1918) and others invented titles containing "Disparate" for the rest, except "Modo de volar" (no. 13).
The term "Proverbios" was applied at the time of the printing of the first edition in 1864.
Posthumous impression with additional lavis (or emery stone) and scratches,
This impession is a new early state taken before additional burnishing of etched lines on the headdress of the woman at far left noted by van Baeyer (2016).
From a pre-publication loosely bound set of 18 prints (printed about 1848-54). Within a tan paper with the inscription "GOYA / Los Proverbios / Madrid hacia 1848".
The flyleaf of the set carries inscriptions by previous owner, Philip Hofer, including his printed label, and "Bought years ago - ca. 1938 [corrected to 1928] - Emil Hirsch in Munich."
The preferred series title "Disparates" (Follies or Absurdities) is derived from titles in Goya's hand on fourteen of the working proofs, of which this subject is one (Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madris). A. Beruete (1918) and others invented titles containing "Disparate" for the rest, except "Modo de volar" (no. 13).
The term "Proverbios" was applied at the time of the printing of the first edition in 1864.
Inscriptionsl.r. in red chalk(not Goya) "3"; l. l.: graphite cataloguing notations and descriptions
(some erased)
(some erased)
ProvenanceAbout 1928, Emil Hirsch (dealer; b. 1866 – d. 1954), Munich and New York; by 1950, sold by Hirsch, or by his son-in-law, Hellmuth Wallach (dealer; b. 1901 – d. 1989), Munich and New York, to Philip Hofer (b. 1898 – d. 1984), Cambridge, MA [see note 1]; 1973 , sold by Philip Hofer, through R. M. Light, Boston, to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 13, 1973)
[1] There is a note on the flyleaf for this set of prints (MFA accession nos. 1973.701.1-18) in Philip Hofer’s hand that reads: "Bought years ago - ca. 1928 – Emil Hirsch in Munich". It is unclear precisely what Hofer’s note means. Hirsch was a Jewish rare book dealer in Munich, who was forced to close his business in May of 1937. He immigrated to the United States in 1938. His son-in-law, Hellmuth Wallach, likewise a dealer, fled Munich in 1937 and worked with Hirsch (at Emil Hirsch Rare Books and Prints) in New York beginning in 1938. According to Emanuel von Baeyer, The Hellmuth Wallach Collection: From the Master of the Tarocchi Cards to Manet (London, 2016), p. 122, Wallach sold the set of prints to Philip Hofer. Hofer first lent them to the MFA in 1950.
[1] There is a note on the flyleaf for this set of prints (MFA accession nos. 1973.701.1-18) in Philip Hofer’s hand that reads: "Bought years ago - ca. 1928 – Emil Hirsch in Munich". It is unclear precisely what Hofer’s note means. Hirsch was a Jewish rare book dealer in Munich, who was forced to close his business in May of 1937. He immigrated to the United States in 1938. His son-in-law, Hellmuth Wallach, likewise a dealer, fled Munich in 1937 and worked with Hirsch (at Emil Hirsch Rare Books and Prints) in New York beginning in 1938. According to Emanuel von Baeyer, The Hellmuth Wallach Collection: From the Master of the Tarocchi Cards to Manet (London, 2016), p. 122, Wallach sold the set of prints to Philip Hofer. Hofer first lent them to the MFA in 1950.