- Still Life with Golden Bream
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Although Francisco de Goya was an extremely prolific artist, he painted perhaps only a dozen still lifes, late in life. In Still Life with Golden Bream, he has captured the physical beauty of the fish while at the same time seeming to identify strongly with the animal's demise.
The fish appear to be piled on a grassy knoll near a beach, which Goya has deftly suggested by the foam of a wave breaking diagonally from lower right to upper left. The scene is illuminated by moonlight glinting across the wet, scaly bodies of the fish and reflected in their large, staring eyes.
Goya departs from traditional artistic depictions of dead animals, investing his still lifes with great pathos. Parallels can be drawn between Goya's representation of animals and his treatment of human corpses in his riveting series of prints Disasters of War, one of the greatest accusations against the horrors of war.
ProvenanceThe artist until 1812; at the death of Goya's wife, ceded to his son, Xavier Goya, from 1812; by descent to Xavier's son, Mariano, until 1846; Count Yumuri Carabanchel, 1846-1865; Zacharie Astruc, Paris, 1865(?)-1878; [sale, Paris, April 12, 1878, lot 35]; Madame Thèvenot, Paris before 1926; collection David Weill, Paris, since 1926; purchased through [Eric Turquin, Paris] by MFAH, 1994.
Exhibition History"Goya Exposition de l'Oeuvre Gravé de Peintures, de tapisteries, et de cent dix dessin du Musée du Prado," Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1935.
"Goya, La Haye, Mauritshuis et Paris," Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1970.
"Spanish Still Life from Velazquez to Goya," The National Gallery, London, February 22–May 21, 1995.
"Goya 1746-1828," Museo del Prado, Madrid, March 29–May 30, 1996.
"Bodegones e Floreros 1600-1800," or "An Eye on Nature: Spanish Still-Life Paintings from Sánchez Cotán to Goya," Stair Sainty Matthiesen Inc., New York, October 30–November 26, 1997.
"Goya, Un Regard Libre," Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Paris, December 11, 1998–March 21, 1999.
“Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.
Russian Ambassador's Residence, Washington, D.C., March 14, 2002.
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, March 29–September 15, 2002.
"Manet/Velazquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, February 24–June 29, 2003.
"Goya: Prophet der Moderne," Staatliche Museen, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, July 12–September 28, 2005; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, October 18, 2005–January 8, 2006.
"Inspiring Impressionism," Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 19–September 21, 2008.
"Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 16, 2012–February 25, 2013.
"A Shock to the Senses. Constable, Delacroix, Friedrich, Goya," Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden, Germany, March 16–August 4, 2013.
"Goya: Hand and Mind," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, October 12, 2014–January 19, 2015.
"Goya: Mad Reason," Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, June 19–September 25, 2016.
"Silence on canvas. Spanish Still Life (17th–20th century)," Palais des Beaux-Arts Bruxelles, February 23–May 27, 2018.
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