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Winter Scene

Creator Name

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828);
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes

Cultural Context

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Date

c. 1786

Source

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About the Work

Art Institute of Chicago Object Description
Two groups of working-class travelers, one with a slaughtered pig in tow, converge on an icy road during a snowstorm. Francisco de Goya captured the scene’s wintry atmosphere with barren trees, large swaths of cool grays and whites, and diagonal brushstrokes that convey rapid snowfall. This small painting is one of a series of studies Goya created for monumental tapestries depicting the four seasons, commissioned for a dining hall at the Royal Palace of El Pardo in Spain. The image would have been scaled up to life-size and then manufactured by weavers in Spain’s Royal Tapestry Factory.

Work details

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Title

Winter Scene

Creator

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828);
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes

Worktype

Painting; oil on canvas; studies; oil paintings (visual works); paint; spanish; painting; european painting

Cultural Context

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Material

Oil on canvas; oil paint (paint); canvas; paint; painting

Dimensions

34.3 × 35.6 cm (13 1/2 × 14 in.); Framed: 49.6 × 50.8 × 7.7 cm (19 1/2 × 20 × 3 in.)

Technique

oil painting; painting; painting (image making); painting techniques

Language

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Date

c. 1786

Provenance

Bequest of Verde C. Graff; One of six oil sketches as preparations for cartoons for tapestries that were to decorate the dining room of the Prince of Asturias in the royal palace of El Pardo near Madrid, 1786; the set of sketches sold by Goya to the Duke and Duchess of Osuna, La Alameda, 1798/1799 [for documentation relating to this sale, see Gassier-Wilson 1970, pp. 383-4]; by descent, the dukes of Osuna, sold Madrid, M. Tello, May 11, 1896, no. 74 to Dr. Cerbera, Madrid. Desparmet Fitz-Gerald, Paris, about 1910 [according to Juliet Wilson Bareau in Madrid/London/Chicago 1993/94]. Demotte, Paris and New York [letter of December 9, 1957 from Abris Silberman to Hans Huth in curatorial file states that Silberman acquired the painting “directly from the Demott [sic] Estate,” presumably referring to the stock of this gallery after the death of Lucien Demotte in 1934]; E. and A. Silberman Galleries, New York, by 1941 [lent to Chicago, 1941]; sold to Everett D. Graff (died 1964), Winnetka, 1942 [letter of April 23, 1942 to Silberman, copy in curatorial file]; his widow, Verde C. Graff (died 1989), Winnetka; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1990.

Style Period

18th Century

Rights

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Public Domain
Public Domain

Inscription

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Location

Spain

Source

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Subjects

travel; animals; dog; figure; figures; gray (color); horse; hunter; men; people; pigs; road; snow; storms; studies; study; trees; weather/seasons; white (color); winter

Topic

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Related Content

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All Works in Curationist’s archives can be reproduced and used freely. How to attribute this Work:

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828), Winter Scene, c. 1786, Art Institute of Chicago. Public Domain.

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