Aesop

Francisco Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828)

a painting by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)

about 1778

Medium/TechniquePen and black and brown inks on dark cream laid paper

DimensionsSheet: 31.2 x 21.2 cm (12 5/16 x 8 3/8 in.)

Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds donated by the Frederick J. Kennedy Memorial Foundation

Accession number1973.695

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsDrawings

Collections

InscriptionsVerso, in brown ink: "Original drawing by Goya for his etching bought by me at a sale of Spanish engravings at Christie & Mansons March 14, 1853. C Morse" graphite: "32A"; black chalk: "8" in circle (inscriptions not by Goya)

ProvenanceMarch 14, 1853, sale [Spanish engravings], Christie and Manson, London, sold to Charles Morse (b. 1820 - d. 1883); July 4, 1873, Sotheby, London, Morse sale, sold to Sir William Stirling-Maxwell (b. 1818 - d. 1878), Keir, Scotland; by descent to his grandson, William Joseph Stirling (b. 1911 - d. 1983), Keir; 1951, sold by Stirling to Colnaghi, London; 1951, sold by Colnaghi to Philip Hofer (b. 1898 – d. 1984), Cambridge, MA [see note 1]; 1974, sold by Hofer, through Robert M. Light (dealer; b. 1929 - d. 2016), Boston and Santa Barbara, to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 12, 1974)

NOTES: [1] Hofer’s collection of Goya prints and drawings was first offered to the MFA on June 13, 1973.