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Shown from the knees up against a dark gray background, a young woman with peachy skin stands with her body angled to our left and she looks at us with brown eyes in this vertical portrait painting. She has dark, arched brows, a straight nose, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. Her dark brown, curly hair is covered by a mantilla, an ivory-white, lacy scarf highlighted with pale gold and subtle, russet-red highlights. She holds the two long ends of the mantilla with her right hand, farther from us, below her bust. The ends of the scarf fall to mid-thigh over her long, ink-black dress. The bust of her dress is also white and shimmers, like the mantilla. Long, tight-fitting, off-white gloves nearly reach the short, puffed, cap sleeves of the dress. The back of the glove on her left arm, closer to her, is tied at the top with a bow, and she holds a silvery-white, closed fan in that hand. A brownish-coral colored necklace is painted as a squiggle of paint around her neck. Barely visible, the painter signed the painting in the lower left: “Goya.”

Francisco Goya

Young Lady Wearing a Mantilla and Basquina, c. 1800/1805

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 52

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 109.5 x 77.5 cm (43 1/8 x 30 1/2 in.)

framed: 125.4 x 93.6 x 6 cm (49 3/8 x 36 7/8 x 2 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen

Accession Number

1963.4.2

Artists / Makers

Francisco Goya (artist) Spanish, 1746 - 1828

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower left: Goya

Provenance

Probably Serafín García de la Huerta [d. 1839], Madrid, inventory of 1840.[1] Marqués de Heredia, Madrid, by 1867.[2] Benito Garriga, Madrid, by 1887;[3] (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 24 March 1890, no. 4). Hubert Debrousse; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 6 April 1900, no. 45), to Kraemer, Paris;[4] sold 1906 to (Durand-Ruel, Paris); purchased by Henry Osborne Havemeyer [1847-1907], New York;[5] his widow, Louisine W. Havemeyer, née Elder, [1855-1929], New York; their daughter, Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen, née Adaline Havemeyer, [1884-1963], Morristown, New Jersey; gift to NGA 1963.

[1] The painting is probably the same one owned by the Madrid collector, Serafín García de la Huerta, who died on 25 August 1839. In the inventory of his collection compiled in 1840, there is a picture described as follows: "no. 859--Otro (lienzo) de una señora con mantilla y basquiña, de Goya, de cinco cuartas de alto por tres y media de ancho, en dos mil reales" ("Another [canvas] of a lady with mantilla and basquiña, by Goya, measuring five cuartas high by three and a half wide"). Although the vertical and horizontal dimensions are about five centimeters smaller each than those of no. 1963.4.2, this is an acceptable margin of difference, given the correspondence of the subject's attire with the description in the inventory (the discrepancy may be the result of including the dimensions of the frame). For the inventory, see Marqués del Saltillo, "Colleciones madrileñas de pinturas: la de D. Serafín García de la Huerta," Arte Español 18 (1950-51): 204. The association of García de la Huerta's painting with the one in the NGA is made by Xavier Desparmet Fitz-Gerald, L'Oeuvre peint de Goya, 2 vols. (Paris, 1928-1950), 2:168-169, who mistakenly gives the date of sale as 1850.

[2] Charles Yriarte, Goya, sa biographie et le catalogue de l'oeuvre (Paris, 1867): 138, lists the owner as the Marqués de Heredia.

[3] According to Conde de la Viñaza, Goya, su tiempo, su vida, sus obras (Madrid, 1887): 265, Garriga was then the owner of the picture. Desparmet Fitz-Gerald 1928-1950, 2:168, notes without supporting evidence that Garriga acquired the painting in 1868.

[4] Information on the acquisition by Kraemer and the subsequent sale to Durand-Ruel is found in Desparmet Fitz-Gerald 1928-1950, 2:168. Desparmet Fitz-Gerald refers only to "Collection Kraemer"; "Kraemer", however, possibly could be Eugène Kraemer, a French collector whose estate, which held a Goya portrait, was sold at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1913 (Catalogue des tableaux anciens, écoles anglaise et française du XVIIIe siécle, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 28-29 April 1913).

[5] Louisine W. Havemeyer, Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector (New York, 1961): 153-154 and 158-159 gives an account of this purchase.

Associated Names

Debrousse, Hubert
Drouot, Hôtel
Durand-Ruel et Cie
Frelinghuysen, Peter H.B., Mrs.
García de la Huerta, Serafín
Garriga, Benito
Havemeyer, Henry Osborne
Havemeyer, Louisine Waldron
Heredia, Marqués de
Kraemer

Exhibition History

1912: Loan Exhibition of Paintings by El Greco and Goya, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1912, no. 7.

1950: A Loan Exhibition of Goya, Wildenstein, New York, 1950, no. 15, repro. 28.

1980: Goya; Das Zeitalter der Revolutionen, 1789-1830, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 1980-1981, 327, no. 296, color pl. 9.

1981: On loan to Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1981-1982.

1986: Goya: The Condesa de Chinchon and Other Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from Spanish and American Private Collections and the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1986-1987, unpaginated brochure.

1993: Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, no. 293.

1996: Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 86-87, color repro.

1998: Goya, un regard libre [Goya: Another Look], Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1998-1999, no. 37, repro., as Jeune Femme en mantille ou La Femme du libraire.

2001: Goya: La imagen de la mujer [Goya: Images of Women], Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2001-2002, no. 72 (Spanish cat.), no. 37 (English cat.), color repro.

2005: Goya, Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City, 2005-2006, no. 23, repro.

Technical Summary

The support is a medium-weight, plain-weave fabric which has been relined. Triangular additions at all four corners have converted the painting to a rectangle. In the original shape, the corners were diagonally cropped. The lower corner additions, which measure 18 x 18 cm along the side and bottom margins, are larger than the additions in the upper corners (9 x 9 cm).

The ground is a smooth, dull red layer, over which the paint layer is thinly applied. The paint layer is abraded throughout, especially in the background and the sitter's dress. These areas have been extensively retouched, as have the lower part of the face and the left eye.

Bibliography

1867: Yriarte, Charles. Goya, sa biographie et le catalogue de l'oeuvre. Paris, 1867: 138.

1887: Viñaza, Conde de la (Cipriano Muñoz y Manzano). Goya: su tiempo, su vida, sus obras. Madrid, 1887: 267.

1916: Beruete y Moret, Aurelano de. Goya, pintor de retratos. Madrid, 1915: 176, pl. 22 (Also English ed. Translated by Selwyn Brinton. London, 1922: 85, pl. 24).

1924: Mayer, August L. Francisco de Goya. Munich, 1923. Translated by Robert West [pseud.]. London, 1924: 171, no. 502.

1928: Desparmet Fitz-Gerald, Xavier. L'oeuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols. Paris, 1928-1950: 2:168-169, pl. 375.

1931: H. O. Havemeyer Collection. Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. Portland, Maine, 1931: 317.

1950: Marqués del Saltillo. "Colecciones madrileñas de pinturas: la de D. Serafín García de la Huerta." Arte Español 18 (1950-1951): 204, no. 859.

1951: Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier. Vida y obras de Goya. Madrid, 1951: 79-80 (also English ed. Translated by Paul Burns. Madrid, 1964: 79).

1961: Havemeyer, Louisine W. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961: 158-159.

1964: Trapier, Elizabeth du Gué. Goya and His Sitters. New York, 1964: 27, fig. 48.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 61, as The Bookseller's Wife.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 53, repro., as The Bookseller's Wife.

1970: Gassier, Pierre, and Juliet Wilson. Vie et oeuvre de Francisco Goya. Paris, 1970: 199, no. 835, repro.; 374, no.835 (also English ed. Translated by C. Hauch and J. Wilson. New York, 1971.).

1971: Gudiol y Ricart, José. Goya: 1746-1828; Biography, Analytical Study and Catalogue of His Paintings. Translated by Kenneth Lyons. 4 vols. New york, 1971: 1:308, no. 522, fig. 826.

1974: De Angelis, Rita. L'opera pittorica completa di Goya. Milan, 1974: 119, no. 449, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 160, repro., as The Bookseller's Wife.

1979: Salas, Xavier de. Goya. London, 1979: 102, 191, no. 399, repro.

1979: Valverde Madrid, José. "La libera de la calle de Carretas." Goya 148-150 (1979): 278, repro.

1983: Gassier, Pierre. Goya: témoin de son temps. Fribourg, 1983: 194, color repro. 195 (also English ed. 1983).

1984: Camón Aznar, José. Francisco de Goya. 4 vols. Saragossa, 1984: 3:156-157, color repro. 173.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 404, no. 574, color repro., as The Bookseller's Wife.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 184, repro., as The Bookseller's Wife

1990: Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 24-27, color repro. 25.

1994: Glendinning, Nigel. "Spanish inventory references to paintings by Goya, 1800-1850: originals, copies, and valuations." The Burlington Magazine 96 (February 1994):106, repro.

2001: Goya: Images of Women. Exh. cat. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001-2002: no. 37.