Nobody wants Goya's painting

The auction began somewhat decaffeinated, with lots that, at first, did not arouse much interest: cruets, 18th-century glass carafes, ceramic plates or silver cutlery for 6,000 euros... After two hours of seeing assorted objects parade through the display, from curtain rods to leather hat boxes, with something from the bazaar or luxury Chinese shop, the auctioneer, who held the gavel from the side, imposed silence in the prestigious Alcalá Subastas hall, in the heart of Madrid.

"Now this wonderful painting by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes that I have behind my back is going to be auctioned."

And he added: “It must be noted first of all that the work is non-exportable and that it has been declared a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC).

The bidding begins.

The starting price is two million euros.

He started.

Here we go.

Suddenly the silence is even more evident.

No one raises their hand with the plastic palette in the room.

Nobody calls by phone to bid.

Nobody types from anywhere in the world on the web to offer themselves.

The auctioneer raises the gavel.

“No one is excited?” he asks, somewhat forced.

Wait some minutes.

But nothing.

No one seems to want this

,

According to specialists, it dates from 1775. At that time, Goya, then 29 years old, was already beginning to be known in Madrid.

It was precisely in that year that Anton Rafael Mengs, Carlos III's first chamber painter, called him to join the Court and ordered the cartoons for the tapestries that were going to decorate a royal dining room in El Escorial.

The auctioned work represents the Virgen del Pilar before a great supernatural halo, surrounded by the apostle Santiago and his disciples.

Probably, it is a commission for an oratorio.

All the figures that contemplate the Virgin, all men, have beards and wear supposedly ancient clothes, with mantles and tunics.

But there is one, in the left corner, seen in profile, who is dressed in the fashion of the 1700s and has no beard.

Some experts have wanted to see in the wink of the clothing a warning,

a way of pointing out: the figure in profile belongs to the young Goya, who always liked to portray himself in his works.

But he is not sure.

The minutes pass.

Nobody lifts a finger.

The operators who answer the phone look at the auctioneer and shake their heads.

Nor does anyone come to the rescue on the internet.

The auctioneer looks for the last time at the room, full, repeats the starting price "two million, two million...", as if thus encouraging the public.

But nothing.

Nothing happens.

The auctioneer raises his hand one last time and strikes with the gavel.

It's over.

No one has bid.

The last chance remains so that the seller does not leave empty: that the representative of the State, in this case a woman who has sat in the first row, exercises her right of first refusal and claims the painting for the two million.

Throughout the auction, this official from the Ministry of Culture, an expert in art, has done it twice.

The first was for an 18th century fan whose starting price was 1,800 euros and that nobody wanted.

The official lifted her palette and the State acquired it.

The second was for a wonderful collection of four paintings of the so-called trompe l'oeil, from the 18th century, by the artist Francisco Gallardo.

They came out for a price of 90,000 euros.

A collector wanted to acquire them for that price.

After awarding it, the official raised her hand with the trowel exercising the right of first refusal: the State, by law, can acquire, for the final price, any object of the auction.

Some workers from Alcalá Subastas placed Goya's painting on Wednesday for its exhibition before being auctioned.

KIKE FOR

For this reason, when nobody wanted the

all eyes turned to the official.

But neither did she raise her arm.

Nor does the State want that

Why?

“It's not that I don't want it.

It is that no museum has presented us with the request that we acquire it.

That depends on the opportunity, the price, the representativeness of the work, whether it fills a gap in the collection of a specific state museum, many factors play a role”, explained Pilar Corchado, the official from the Ministry of Culture who had come to the auction.

They, the members of the ministry who attend these acts, play a role of mere intermediaries between the different national museums that notify their requests for lots and the auctioneers.

And no museum had contacted them to acquire the

The auction, of course, lost interest.

Someone left the room.

The representative of the State, among others.

The painting, behind the auctioneer, still distilled an overwhelming luminosity, which could be appreciated much more if you look at it from a distance, about ten meters away.

But, after the bidding, it seemed a little less luminous or resplendent.

Question of winning or losing.

It is not the first time that the auction house Alcalá Subastas has offered a

.

In 2003, one of the founding partners of the firm, an expert in old painting, in a routine appraisal in Madrid, was interested in a painting that the owner of the house had hanging in the corridor and to which he did not give much importance.

“At the moment, my partner knew that he was a

”, recalls Rogelio Folguerias, president of Alcalá Auctions.

The owner of the house had no idea of ​​the author or the date because the painting lacked a signature, something, on the other hand, very common for Goya.

The frame, yes, was from the 19th century.

But she didn't know much else.

She added she.

“The only thing is that there is another similar one in the bedroom.”

The specialist ran to the apartment's bedroom with another hunch that turned out to be true: indeed, the painting in the bedroom—he also knew instantly, without any doubt—was another

.

Months later, they were auctioned off, conveniently authenticated by specialists from the Prado Museum, such as two

titled

Familia and

This time the State did buy them for 1.7 million euros each.

Right now they are hanging in the Prado Museum.

That opportunity has been lost, for now, by the

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