This is a preliminary drawing for the unpublished etching[1] after the painting by Diego Velázquez at the Museo Nacional del Prado;[2] a few trial proofs are known.[3] Like Barbarroja, Don Juan de Austria was also played by a court jester. In the Velázquez painting, the victory at the Battle of Lepanto (October 7, 1571) is alluded to through the wall opening. Here, Francisco de Goya omitted that level of meaning. In Goya's version, the soldier stands among his arms and armor, which lie on the floor, and the view onto a battle scene can be imagined only if one knows the original. The oval shape at Don Juan's back has also disappeared, and the square floor tiles are visible only in the foreground (they are wholly absent in the final etching). Goya concentrated solely on the figure. His Don Juan stands a bit straighter and more isolated, seems more uncertain, and, without the background of the painting, somewhat lost. While in Velázquez's painting, Don Juan de Austria was integrated into a more complex composition, in Goya's work, Don Juan no longer has any supporting apparatus and stands alone.
The gaze has also changed: in Velázquez's work the jester appears to smile behind his beard. In Goya's, he seems alienated and apathetic. The changes, in fact, lead to an "incongruity between costuming, attributes, and fragile figure."[4] However, the figure as a personality takes on greater importance in Goya, an aspect that is characteristic of that artist's work.

Jens Hoffmann-Samland


1 Harris 1964, no. 18
2 The Buffoon Called Don Juan de Austria, ca. 1632, oil on canvas, 82 5/8 x 48 48 in.
(210 x 123 cm), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. no. P 1200.
3 Hoffmann-Samland 2011, 292.
4 Hanna Hohl in Hofmann, Hollander, and Serullaz et al. 1980, 248.

Details zu diesem Werk

• Beschriftung

  Beschriftung fremd: Unten links bezeichnet: "Velázquez" (Feder in Braun); rechts signiert: "Goya." (Feder in Braun); auf dem Verso nummeriert: "6747" (Bleistift)

• Werkverzeichnis

  GW 110,

• Provenienz

  [José Atanasio Echeverría]; Julian Benjamin Williams, Seville (d. 1866); John Wetherell (?) (d. 1865); Horatio/Nathan Wetherell (?) (until 1874); Frederick William Cosens, London (from 1874 to 1890); Sotheby's, London, auction of the property of Frederick William Cosens (from November 11 to 21, 1890); Bernard Quaritch Ltd., London (from November 1890 to July 1891); acquired by the Hamburger Kunsthalle (July 14, 1891).

• Bibliographie

  The Spanish Gesture. Drawings from Murillo to Goya in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Jens Hoffmann-Samland, with contributions by María Cruz de Carlos Varona, Gabriele Finaldi, José Manuel Matilla u. a., 2014, S. 204, Abb., Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 51

  Spanische Zeichnungen von El Greco bis Goya, Wolf Stubbe; Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1966, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 106

  "de mi invención"? Francisco de Goya im Dienst der spanischen Monarchie von 1775 bis 1792, Regina Gade, 2015, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 4.32

  Vida y obra de Francisco de Goya, Pierre Gassier und Juliet Wilson; Herausgeber: François Lachenal, 1974, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 110

  Dessins de Goya, vol. 2: Etudes pour gravures et peintures, Pierre Gassier; Herausgeber: Office du Livre, 1975, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 31

  Goya: Das Zeitalter der Revolutionen. Kunst um 1800, Werner Hofmann, Hans Hollander, Maurice Serullaz u. a.; Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1980, S. 248, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 199

  Ydioma Universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional, Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Elena Santiago Páez u. a.; Herausgeber: Biblioteca Nacional, Sociedad Estatal Goya 96; Madrid, 1996, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 22

  Velázquez en blanco y negro, José Manuel Matilla; Museo Nacional del Prado, 2000, S. 53, Abb.-Nr.

  Goyas Veláquez, Goya Zeichnungen, Radierungen und Gemälde nach Veláquez, Jens Hoffmann-Samland, 2011, S. 15-1.2, Abb.-Nr.