FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828), Sleep overcomes them (Las rinde el Sueño) Plate 34 from: Los Caprichos

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
Sleep overcomes them (Las rinde el Sueño)
Plate 34 from: Los Caprichos
etching with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving, on laid paper, a very good impression from the First Edition, published by the artist, Madrid, 1799, the all-important dark background strong, rich and even, the foreground highlights bright and clean, framed
Plate: 8¹⁄₂ x 6 in. (216 x 152 mm.)
Sheet: 11³⁄₄ x 8 in. (298 x 203 mm.)

Presumably Manuel Fernández Durán y Pando, Marqués de Perales del Río (1818-1886), Madrid.
Don Pedro Fernández-Durán (1846-1930), Madrid; with his stamp (Lugt 747b); presumably by descent from the above.
Don Tomas de la Maza y Saavedra (1896-1975); gift from the above.
With Herman Shickman Fine Arts, New York.
With Stuart Denenberg, Los Angeles.
Private American Collection; acquired from the above.

Delteil 71; Harris 69

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Lot Essay

Prado manuscript: ‘Do not awaken them! Perhaps sleep is the only happiness for miserable people.’

‘The other texts are far more precise than the Prado text which does its best to veil the true nature of this print. The Ayala text refers specifically to nuns and monks and would appear to be a direct attack on the decadence of the clergy: ‘What can these nuns and monks do but go to sleep after their bouts of drunkenness and depravity, convents?’

Johnson, R. S., Francisco Goya, Los Caprichos, R.S. Johnson Fine Art, Chicago, 1992, p. 94.