Goya's Prison: - Red Square Design

Goya’s Prison – the Year of Despair
In 1862 John and Joséphine Bowes made numerous purchases at the
sale of the collection of the Conde de Quinto who had died in 1860.
The Conde de Quinto, politician, courtier, writer and art collector, had
built up a magnificent collection facilitated by his position as Director of
the Museo de la Trinidad in Madrid. The widowed Condesa was living
in Paris, where all of the pictures were housed. The Condesa was in
desperate need of income and sought to sell the collection of paintings
her husband had acquired. Coincidentally, her agent and advisor was
Benjamin Gogué, who was also working in the same capacity for John and
Joséphine Bowes.
The sale of the paintings was to be held at the Condesa’s house in the
Avenue Matignon, and a catalogue was published in June 1862. (Fig. 24)
John Bowes was given an advance copy, with the addition of the prices
the Condesa was asking. Gogué encouraged the Bowes’ to buy liberally.
Ultimately, of the two hundred and seventeen pictures listed in the Conde
de Quinto sale catalogue, Bowes purchased seventy five, all now at The
Bowes Museum, including El Greco’s Tears of St Peter. (Figs.1, 2, 3) 1
Eight works in the sale catalogue were attributed to the hand of
Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) including three purchased by John and
Joséphine Bowes:-
No 44 Portrait of his brother
No 45 Don Juan Antonio Meléndez Valdés
No 48 Interior of a Prison 2
3
6 Self portrait in the studio
Francisco de Goya
c.1794-5
Oil on canvas 42 x 28cm
Madrid, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
4 Portrait of John Bowes
Jacques Feyen (1815-1908)
1863
Oil on canvas 181 x 190cm
The Bowes Museum
5 Portrait of Joséphine Bowes
Antoine Dury (1819-after 1878)
1850
Oil on canvas 196 x 128cm
The Bowes Museum
7 Entry from the handwritten catalogue of paintings of
The Bowes Museum 1878 listing Interior of a Prison.
Goya’s Prison – the Year of Despair