A City on a Rock
This nightmarish vision of a city encircled by violence, its sky populated by mysterious flying creatures, was believed to be by Goya when it was purchased by an American collector in Spain in the 1880s. Today, it is thought to be by one of Goya’s emulators. The artist has exaggerated Goya’s rugged paint handling and made a pastiche of many of his motifs. The winged figures are taken from a print in Goya’s Disparates (translated as “Follies” or “Irrationalities”) series, while the apocalyptic landscape recalls Goya’s so-called Black Paintings, which had been little known in his lifetime but grew in fame over the nineteenth century.
Artwork Details
- Title: A City on a Rock
- Artist: Style of Goya (Spanish, 19th century)
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 33 × 41 in. (83.8 × 104.1 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
- Object Number: 29.100.12
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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Goya
Goya
Goya
Goya
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1810
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