Francisco de Goya

A Dead Turkey (Un pavo muerto)

A Dead Turkey (Un pavo muerto)
Datos Generales
Cronología
1808 - 1812
Ubicación
The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Dimensiones
45 x 63 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
El Prado National Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
20 Apr 2010 / 15 Jun 2023
Inventario
(P00751)
Otros títulos:
Unskinned Dead Turkey (Pavo muerto sin pelar)
Dead Turkey and Basket (Pavo muerto y cesta)
Inscripciones

Goya (in the middle of the foreground, painted vertically).

Historia

For more information, see Pieces of Lamb.

Javier Goya inherited this series of still lifes from his father, and in turn left them to his own son, Mariano. When he was unable to repay a loan made to him by the Count of Yumuri, Carabanchel, Mariano gave this set of paintings as security, and in the end the works became the property of the count. When the Count of Yumuri died in 1865 the series of still lifes was sold. Today these works are scattered between different museums and institutions around the world, and some of the paintings have now been lost.

This canvas was acquired for the Prado Museum by the Spanish Ministry of Development on 20 March 1900, with the work's owner, Rafael García Palencia, receiving three thousand pesetas for it. The day after it was purchased, the painting entered the collection of the Madrid museum, which mentions it for the first time in the 1900 edition of its catalogue.

 

Análisis artístico

In this still life Goya has painted a dead turkey on top of a table. Its head rests against a wicker basket, the only spatial reference found in the painting. The stripped-down nature of the setting in which the animal has been placed avoids any distractions and makes the turkey itself the unquestionable protagonist of the work.

The Aragonese artist has used a fairly limited colour palette. The turkey's body is the same colour as the background, with just a few brushstrokes of ochre, white and red added to suggest a sense of volume. The bottom of the turkey is delimited with white and ochre, whilst a purplish red is used for the animal's head.

The turkey is lying with its wings outstretched and its legs held rigid, most likely indicating that it died only recently, in a posture which contributes to the drama of the scene.

For more information, see Pieces of Lamb.

Exposiciones
  • El arte de Goya
    Museo de Arte Occidental de Tokio
    Tokyo
    1971
    from 16th 1971 to January 23th 1972. Exhibited also at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, January 29th to March 15th 1972.
  • Goya
    Palacio de Pedralbes
    Barcelona
    1977
    from April 12th to June 30th 1977
  • De El Greco a Goya
    Palacio de Bellas Artes
    Mexico D.F.
    1978
    November-December 1978
  • Exposición de pintura española
    Belgrade
    1981
  • De Greco á Picasso. Cinq siècles d’art espagnol
    Musée du Petit Palais
    París
    1987
    from October 10th 1987 to January 3th 1988
  • Goya
    Nationalmuseum
    Stockholm
    1994
    consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995
  • El bodegón español de Velázquez a Goya
    The National Gallery
    London
    1995
    exhibition celebrated from February 22nd to May 21st 1995, curated by Peter Cherry
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
  • Francisco de Goya: Maleri, Tegning, Grafikk
    Nasjonalgalleriet
    Oslo
    1996
    from 10th to April 14th 1996
  • Goya, un regard libre
    Palais de Beaux Arts
    Lille
    1998
    from December 12th 1998 to March 14th 1999. Exhibited also at The Philadelphia Museum, Philadelphia, April 17th 1999 to July 11th 1999, consultant editor Arnauld Brejon de Lavergnée and Joseph J. Rishel in collaboration with Manuela B. Mena Marqués
  • Goya en tiempos de guerra
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2008
    consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués, from April 14th to July 13th 2008
  • Goya y el Mundo Moderno
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    2008
    organized by the Fundación Goya en Aragón at the Museo de Zaragoza, consultant editors Valeriano Bozal and Concepción Lomba Serrano. From December 18th 2008 to March 22nd 2009
  • Il silenzio sulla tela natura morta spagnola da Sánchez Cotán a Goya
    2018
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    Bibliography']['number
    París
    1928-1950
    p. 214, cat. 177
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 262, cat. 904
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    Bibliography']['number
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 352, cat. 589
  • ANGELIS, Rita de
    L’opera pittorica completa di Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    MilanRizzoli
    1974
    p. 123, cat. 501
  • CAMÓN AZNAR, José
    Francisco de Goya, 4 vols.
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja
    1980-1982
    vol. III, p. 187
  • PAZ, Alfredo de
    Goya. Arte e condizione umana
    Bibliography']['number
    NaplesLiguori editore
    1990
    pp. 158-160, il. 141
  • JORDAN, William B. and CHERRY, Peter
    El bodegón español de Velázquez a Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridEdiciones El Viso
    1995
    pp. 175, 176, 177, 180, 182 (il.) y 184,
  • LUNA, Juan J. (Comisario)
    Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1996
    pp. 229 (il.), 404 y 405, cat. 133
  • SUREDA PONS, Joan
    Los mundos de Goya (1746-1828)
    Bibliography']['number
    BarcelonaLunwerg
    2008
    pp. 159-160
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B.
    Goya en tiempos de guerra
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2008
    pp. 240 y 244, cat. 60
  • LOMBA, Concepción y BOZAL, Valeriano (comisarios)
    Goya y el Mundo Moderno
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaFundación Goya en Aragón y Lunwerg
    2008
    p. 132, cat. 60
  • ATENIDO, Ángel
    Bibliography']['number
    Sagep Arte
    2018
Ficha en SAAC

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