Disparate Ridiculo (Ridiculous Folly); from a set of "Disparates" series [published as the Proverbios] , plate 3

Francisco Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828)

Drawn and etched about 1815–19; printed about 1848

Medium/TechniqueEtching, aquatint, drypoint and tonal scratches; posthumous impression, early trial proof On slightly textured, medium weight, grayish, cream wove paper, without watermark

DimensionsPlatemark: 24.2 x 35 cm (9 1/2 x 13 3/4 in.)
Sheet: 26.3 x 37.4 cm (10 3/8 x 14 3/4 in.)

Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds by exchange from the bequest of Horatio Greenough Curtis and the Harvey D. Parker Collection—Harvey Drury Parker Fund

Accession number1973.701.3

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPrints

Collections

Inscriptionsl.r. in red chalk(not Goya) "3"; l. l.: graphite cataloguing notations and descriptions (some erased)ProvenanceAbout 1928, Emil Hirsch (dealer; b. 1866 – d. 1954) Munich and New York; by 1950, sold by Hirsch, or by his son-in-law, Hellmuth Wallach (dealer; b. 1901 – d. 1989), Munich and New York, to Philip Hofer (b. 1898 – d. 1984), Cambridge, MA [see note 1]; 1973 , sold by Philip Hofer, through R. M. Light, Boston, to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 13, 1973)

[1] There is a note on the flyleaf for this set of prints (MFA accession nos. 1973.701.1-18) in Philip Hofer’s hand that reads: "Bought years ago - ca. 1928 – Emil Hirsch in Munich". It is unclear precisely what Hofer’s note means. Hirsch was a Jewish rare book dealer in Munich, who was forced to close his business in May of 1937. He immigrated to the United States in 1938. His son-in-law, Hellmuth Wallach, likewise a dealer, fled Munich in 1937 and worked with Hirsch (at Emil Hirsch Rare Books and Prints) in New York beginning in 1938. According to Emanuel von Baeyer, The Hellmuth Wallach Collection: From the Master of the Tarocchi Cards to Manet (London, 2016), p. 122, Wallach sold the set of prints to Philip Hofer. Hofer first lent them to the MFA in 1950.