Friar Pedro Binds El Maragato with a Rope
Historical Context
Friar Pedro Binds El Maragato with a Rope continues Goya's narrative series on the 1806 capture of the notorious bandit by a Franciscan friar. This panel shows the decisive reversal — the friar, who began the sequence as a threatened captive, has now physically overpowered and bound his captor. The story's appeal lay in its inversion of conventional expectations: a man of God, unarmed and physically unremarkable, defeating a violent armed criminal through a combination of cleverness and unexpected physical courage. Goya's sequential narrative treatment was technically innovative for Spanish painting of the period and reflects his awareness of print culture's storytelling conventions.
Technical Analysis
Goya's economical technique on the small panel captures the physical struggle with bold, rapid brushwork. The figures are locked in dynamic interaction, with broad strokes defining postures and gestures. The warm palette and strong contrasts of light and dark create dramatic tension within the intimate format.
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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