The Mass

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746 - Bordeaux, 1828
Date: c. 1792-1828
Dimensions: c. 1792-1828
Materials: Oil on tinplate
This is a mass scene, just before communion: while the bell rings, the priest shows the parishioners the bread and wine, which have just been consecrated. There are several similar versions of this scene in Spanish and foreign museums, most of them titled The Communion, whose authorship has often been associated with Francisco de Goya, although none of them has yet been studied in depth. After carrying out a comparative study, the CAEM researchers have identified in this version technical features typical of the Aragonese master Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, such as the way the forms are constructed, the type of brushwork, and the use of walnut oil in the whites.

  • Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: La misa de parida, Collection of the Marquis de la Torrecilla.
  • Eugenio Lucas Velázquez (attributed): La comunión, c. 1850-1870, oil on canvas, 36 x 46 cm, Fundación Lázaro Galdiano.
  • Anonymous Spanish: The communion (a mass), late nineteenth century-early twentieth century, oil on canvas, 34.3 x 43.2 cm, The Clark Institute, Williamstown.
  • Eugenio Lucas Velázquez: La communion, c. 1862, oil on canvas, 29 x 39 cm, Museo Nacional de San Carlos, Mexico.
  • Unknown author: Interior of Church with priest giving communion, 32 x 38 cm, whereabouts unknown.
  • Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: The Mass of Birth, oil on tin, 31 x 43 cm, Quiñones León Museum, Vigo.
  • Follower of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: La misa de parida, oil on tin, 31.8 x 42.9 cm, auctioned at Sotheby’s 2015.
  • Attributable to Eugenio Lucas Velázquez: The Wedding of the Hunchback, 1829, oil on tinplate, 31.8 × 43.4 cm, private collection.
  • Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: Le mariage inégal, c. 1793, oil on tin, 41.5 x 29 cm, Musée du Louvre.
  • Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: La messe des rrelieveilles, c. 1819, oil on canvas, 53.7 x 77 cm, Musée des Beaux Arts, Agen.