Tapestry; Spain, 20th century.

Tapestry; Spain, 20th century.
"The little blind hen".
Wool and cotton warp.
Signed Miguel Stuyck.
Measurements: 145 x 145 cm.
Tapestry woven in high-warp loom, following the tradition, according to the cardboard made by Goya for the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Isabel around 1786-87, currently preserved in the Prado Museum. The high-warp looms are those with the warp placed vertically, and are capable of withstanding a very strong tension, which is why they have been historically used for the elaboration of the most complex and highest quality tapestries.
The Cartones de Goya are a group of paintings made by Goya between 1775 and 1792 for the Royal Tapestry Factory. They represent mostly bucolic, hunting, rural and popular themes, and were strictly to the taste of King Carlos III and the princes Carlos de Borbón and María Luis de Parma, as well as being supervised by other artists of the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara such as Maella and the Bayeu family. One of the main attractions of these cartoons by Goya is the mixture of the indelible imprint of the courtly world with the grace of the popular world, which always alternated in the painter's mind. On the other hand, they show in their workmanship the fidelity to the great Spanish pictorial tradition that always characterized Goya; the loose brushstroke of the best Velázquez, and the shadow and light combined to create powerful volumes built in the impasto, clarified with brief luminous strokes in which the subtlety of the colors produces infinite variations. Thus, it is a painting full of delicate chromatic nuances, conjugated in such a way that they determine an evocative and poetic atmosphere, of great naturalism, of delicate lights and soft shadows.
The Cartones are structured in seven series, each one with a different theme, although in all of them there is a predominance of rural themes and popular amusement (only the first one shows themes related to hunting).