Paper
The NGV’s Los Caprichos impressions are printed on fine quality, off-white, laid paper that was probably sourced from Genoa in Italy’s Ligurian region.49 In 1798 Goya was commissioned by King Carlos IV to decorate the small chapel of San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid and documents reveal he billed the king for 750 sheets of paper from Genoa.50 Considering Goya’s known working practices for painting frescoes, it is unlikely all the paper purchased would have been used for the preliminary fresco drawings, but each imperial size sheet could have been cut into six separate paper supports of the size used to produce Los Caprichos.51 Goya used a range of foreign papers for his drawings, however after 1810 when Napolean’s troops invaded Spain, paper was extremely difficult and expensive to obtain from foreign countries. It is probably for this reason Goya used paper from the Capellades region to produce his working proofs for Desastres de la Guerra.
In preparation for the exhibition Reason and Folly The Prints of Francisco Goya, displayed at NGV in 1998, the NGV Paper Conservation studio took beta-radiographs of all Goya impressions containing watermarks and countermarks.52 A watermark is a distinctive logo of a papermill that is integrated into the paper at the time it is made and is often accompanied by a countermark which is the name of the papermill or paper maker. This study revealed the NGV‘s first edition impressions of La Tauromaquaia contain the BARTOLOME MONGELOS countermark, the MORATO countermark and the SERRA countermark, all originating from the Capellades region of Spain.54 (See figs. 40 and 41). As Goya was closely involved in the printing of this series, it is assumed he was responsible for the choice of paper and his selection is likely to have related to supply and availability, purpose of use, and perhaps a conscious desire to support local craftsmen and industry.53
Eleanor A. Sayre, op.cit., p. 61. Laid paper is made on a timber frame (called a mould) with a sieve-like surface consisting of closely spaced, horizontal brass wires running across the frame (the impressions these leave on paper once it is made are called laid lines) and more widely spaced vertical wires that are twisted around the laid wires to hold them in place. The twisted wires leave impressions on the paper known as chain lines. When paper is formed, the wet pulp settles down into the gaps between the laid wires, leaving thinner paper furrows in the areas corresponding with the placement of the laid and chain wires. Due to the uneven thickness that results from the surface of the mould, laid paper can be identified by shining light through the sheet.
Eleanor A. Sayre, op.cit., p. 61
ibid. The standard size for Italian imperial paper was 50 x 72.5 cm. The NGV’s impressions of Los Caprichos are on paper supports ranging from 21.6-25.8 cm x 15.3×18.4cm so each sheet could have been cut in half and then in thirds to produce six supports.
This project was undertaken by Jacobus van Breda, Robert Raynor Conservator of Paper. Beta-radiography is a moderate particulate form of radiation that can penetrate paper, allowing crisp images of variations in thickness, and thus show the watermark and countermark design. For more information about watermarks see https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/conservation/watermarks/, accessed 9 June 2021.
Unlike, Italy, there was no strict governance over paper sizes in Spain. Despite this, one of the sizes SERRA paper was available in was 31.0 x 42.0 cm, the approximate size of the paper supports for La Tauromaquaia prints, indicating whole sheets were used. The paper used for Goya’s Los Disparates series was produced by José Garcia Oseñalde’s paper mill in La Cabrera in the province of Guadalajara in 1847. Partial palmette or shell watermarks have been found in several NGV impressions, as has the J.G.O. countermark. Since these works were printed posthumously, Goya did not choose this paper.
Oriol Vallis i Subirà (1970) Paper and watermarks in Catalonia, pp.35-36