The Andalusian dance (El Vito)

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The title of this print refers to a popular type of jaleo dance, an antecedent of flamenco that was performed by a solo female dancer and accompanied by singing, clapping, guitar, and tambour. After moving to Bordeaux, Goya made this lithograph in the workshop of Cyprien Charles Gaulon. He might have thought the subject would appeal to the Romantic tastes of the French audience, many of whom regarded Spanish customs as alluringly exotic. Exploiting the possibilities of the medium, Goya drew directly on the stone with the lithographic crayon and modulated the areas of light and shade with the scraper, creating a sense of depth. The result is a lively, picturesque scene that demonstrates Goya’s bold approach to lithography.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art