El Maragato Threatens Friar Pedro de Zaldivia with His Gun
Historical Context
This panel depicting El Maragato threatening Friar Pedro at gunpoint is part of Goya's six-panel series depicting the true story of Friar Pedro de Zaldivia, who single-handedly captured the notorious bandit El Maragato in 1806. The series was unusual for Goya — narrative genre painting depicting a contemporary news event — but its subject combined several of his characteristic concerns: violence, individual courage, and the border between civilization and brutality. El Maragato was a real bandit whose capture by an unarmed monk became a popular sensation; Goya's six panels follow the action with the sequential logic of a comic strip, each panel advancing the narrative toward the friar's triumph.
Technical Analysis
The small panel format demands compressed, forceful composition. Goya's brushwork is rapid and energetic, with bold strokes that capture the violent action with cinematic immediacy. The dark, dramatic palette and strong chiaroscuro create an atmosphere of danger and confrontation.
Provenance
One of a series of six small paintings in an inventory of Goya’s collection, Madrid, taken in 1812 for the division of property between the artist and his son Javier following the death of the artist's wife; the group of small paintings marked X8 being allotted to the son: "Seis quadros del Maragato señalados con el número ocho, en 700 [reales]" (the inventory mark has been removed from the painting and is no longer visible) [see Gassier and Wilson 1971]; presumably Javier Goya after 1812. Lafitte collection, Madrid; sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, March 7, 1861, bought in together with other paintings from the series for 590 francs [see Hippolyte Mireur, Dictionnaire des ventes (Paris, 1914), vol. 3, p. 360 and Despartment Fitz-Gerald 1928-1950]. Julius Böhler, Munich by 1911; sold to Martin Ryerson (died 1932), Chicago in May 1911 [see purchase receipt dated May 13, 1911]; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.
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