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Francisco de Goya, 'A Scene from 'The Forcibly Bewitched'', 1798
About the work
Overview
Goya shows us a scene based on a satirical play first performed in 1698: The Forcibly Bewitched by Antonio de Zamora (1660–1727). The priest, Don Claudio, is being frightened into marriage with Doña Leonora. He’s been made to believe that a slave, Lucia, has bewitched him, and that his life will last only as long as the lamp in her room remains alight.
We see Claudio eagerly replenishing the oil in the lamp, which is in the form of an almost life-size ram. The inscription in the bottom right contains the first part of two words, lampara descomunal (‘monstrous lamp’) – the words that the fearful and superstitious Claudio cries out loud.
A grotesque painting of dancing donkeys decorates the wall behind, adding to the general air of mystery and sorcery. But the play is a comedy, and the hero’s exaggerated pose and staring eyes are intended to make us laugh at his gullibility.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Scene from El Hechizado por Fuerza ('The Forcibly Bewitched')
- Artist
- Francisco de Goya
- Artist dates
- 1746 - 1828
- Date made
- 1798
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 42.5 × 30.8 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1896
- Inventory number
- NG1472
- Location
- Room 37
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century French Frame
Provenance
Painted for the Duke of Osuna ca. 1798. Probably exhibited, with its five companions, in 1799 at the Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid. In the collection of the Dukes of Osuna, Palacio de la Alameda, near Madrid, and presumably one of the fifteen small paintings by Goya hanging in the library there in the mid-nineteenth century. Purchased for the National Gallery at the Osuna sale, Madrid, 18 May, 1896 (lot 88; £51). Arts Council Spanish Paintings Exhibition, 1946 (no. 5) and 1947 (no. 9). Exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, Goya and his times, 1963/4 (lent after the start of the exhibition and not included in the catalogue).
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised by Allan Braham, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School’, London 1988; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2009Goya, Redon, Ensor: Grotesque Paintings and DrawingsKoninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (KMSKA)14 March 2009 - 14 June 2009
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2013Witches and Wicked BodiesScottish National Gallery of Modern Art26 July 2013 - 3 November 2013
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2021Francisco de GoyaFondation Beyeler10 October 2021 - 23 January 2022
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2023Goya and Munch: Modern PropheciesMunch Museet25 October 2023 - 11 February 2024
Bibliography
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1867C. Yriarte, Goya: Sa biographie, les fresques, les toiles, les tapisseries, les eaux-fortes et le catalogue de l'oeuvre, Paris 1867
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1887Conde de la Viñaza, Goya: Su tiempo, su vida, sus obras, Madrid 1887
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1917A. de Beruete y Moret, Goya, Madrid 1917
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1952Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, London 1952
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1962F. Nordström, Goya, Saturn and Melancholy: Studies in the Art of Goya, Stockholm 1962
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1963E. Helman, Trasmundo de Goya, Madrid 1963
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1967P. Guinard, 'Goya: Peintre visionnaire', Bulletin de la Société des Amis du Musée de Dijon, 1967, pp. 52-8
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1970N. MacLaren and A. Braham, The Spanish School, 2nd edn, London 1970
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1971P. Gassier and J. Wilson-Bareau, Goya: His Life and Work, with a Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Drawings and Engravings, London 1971
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1971J. Gudiol, Goya, 1746-1828: Biography, Analytical Study and Catalogue of His Paintings, trans. K. Lyons, Barcelona 1971
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1976N. von Holst, Creators, Collectors and Connoisseurs: The Anatomy of Artistic Taste from Antiquity to the Present Day, London 1976
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1977J. Dowling, 'Capricho as Style in Life, Literature, and Art from Zamora to Goya', Eighteenth Century Studies, X/4, 1977, pp. 413-33
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1981J. Camón Aznar, Francisco de Goya, Zaragoza 1981
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1981D. Sutton, 'Editorial: Solo Goya', Apollo, CXIV/236, 1981, pp. 212-9
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1981A. Braham, El Greco to Goya: The Taste for Spanish Paintings in Britain and Ireland (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 16 September - 9 November 1981), London 1981
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1983P. Gassier, Francisco de Goya, Würzburg 1983
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1988Maclaren, Neil, revised by Allan Braham, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1988
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1988National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, 1987', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XII, 1988
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1988A.E.P. Sánchez and E.A. Sayres, Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment (exh. cat. Prado, 6 October - 18 December 1988; Museum of Fine Arts, 18 January - 26 March 1989; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 9 May - 16 July 1989), Madrid 1988
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1990R. Buendía, Goya, New York 1990
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1993J. Wilson-Bareau et al., Goya: El capricho y la invención: Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas (exh. cat. Museo del Prado, 19 November 1993 - 15 February 1994), Madrid 1993
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1994J. Baticle, Goya: Painter of Terror and Splendour, London 1994
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1994S. Sebastián, 'Iconografía de la brujería: De Ribera a Goya', Goya, 238, 1994, pp. 205-10
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1994J. Wilson-Bareau et al., Goya: Truth and Fantasy: The Small Paintings (exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, 17 March - 12 June 1994; Art Insitute of Chicago, 16 July - 16 October 1994), Madrid 1994
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1996S. Helliesen et al., Francisco Goya: Maleri, Tegning, Grafikk (exh. cat. Nasjonalgalleriet, 10 February - 14 April 1996), Oslo 1996
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2003W. Hofmann, Goya: Vom Himmel durch die Welt zur Hölle, Munich 2003
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2003R. Hughes, Goya, New York 2003
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2003F.I. Heckes, 'Goya y sus seis "Asuntos de brujas"', Goya, 295-296, 2003, pp. 197-214
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2004W. Bird, 'Oh Monstruous Lamp! Wendy Bird Examines the Special Effects in Goya's a Scene from El Hechizado Por Fuerza', Apollo, CLIX/505, 2004, pp. 13-9
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2005M.B. Mena Marqués et al., Goya: Prophet der moderne (exh. cat. Alte Nationalgalerie, 13 July - 3 October 2005; Kunsthistorisches Museum, 18 October 2005 - 8 January 2006), Cologne 2005
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2008M.B. Mena Marqués et al., Goya en tiempos de Guerra (exh. cat. Prado, 4 April - 13 July 2008), Madrid 2008
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2009D. Carr, El Greco to Goya: Spanish Painting, London 2009
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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