Blind Guitarist

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the spring of 1778 Goya submitted an oil cartoon depcting the blind guitatist to the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara in Madrid for it to be woven into a tapestry to adorn the bedchamber of the Prince and Princess of Asturias in the Royal Palace of El Pardo. Because of the complexity of the design it proved too difficult for the weavers to interpret and alterations had to be made. This etching - his largest ever and the only print after one of his own works - is thought to record his first design before he modified it. The modified cartoon is today in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Goya recognized the ability of the etching medium to convey minute detail and in this print, he emphasises the different expressions of those surrounding the guitarist. No edition of the print was made, which might have had something to do with the difficulties of printing such a large plate. Few impresions of this print are known.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art