The Dorotheum auction house Vienna will put on sale on April 24 one of the sketches that Francisco de Goya created to prepare his famous canvas “The Family of Charles IV”, which is preserved in the Museum of the Prado Madrid.
The work up for auction is a study of the Infanta María Isabel de Borbón, created by Goya in 1800 to prepare his well-known group portrait. Dorotheum values the painting, which has not been exhibited for 72 years, at between 300,000 and 400,000 euros.
The painting, an oil painting measuring 71.8 x 59.1 centimeters, presents the infanta at half height, surrounded by a red-ochre primer. Goya created ten individual sketches to elaborate “The family of Charles IV”of which five are preserved in El Prado.
The rest, apart from this one of Infanta María Isabel up for auction, are considered missing.
The portrait up for auction is comparable in style, color and format to those five sketches of members of the royal family prepared by Goya for the final collective portrait that is preserved in the Madrid museum.
The sketch technique is characterized by the use of quick, vivid brush strokes on an orange-red background.
“It can be compared very clearly with those other oil sketches of El Prado, which are all very similar, with the same type of orange-red background, the same type of dark drawing around the figure to highlight it”Mark MacDonnell, a Dorotheum expert, explained to EFE in Vienna.
“He is a great transformer of art”MacDonnell praised Goya and his work, ahead of its time.
The piece up for auction probably comes from the collection of Infanta María Isabel, later Queen of the Two Sicilies, and passed through several hands, including those of her descendants and collectors such as Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, whose heirs are the current owners.
The painting has been the subject of studies and exhibitions, but has not been shown in public since a show in Venice in 1952, according to Dorotheum.
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Source: Gestion
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