Be Careful with that Step!

Prints and Drawings

1816/1820

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Spanish, 1746-1828

Francisco Goya seems never to have compromised his intense feelings for humanity or his acute vision of man’s vanities and vices. Dating from about 1805, Be Careful with that Step!,part of a series illustrating the follies of the young and the old, shows a girl dancing with abandon. With an astonishing economy of means (a few simple strokes of his fine-pointed brush) Goya succeeded not only in describing the materials of the girl’s dress but also in capturing her quick, lively movements.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Title: Be Careful with that Step!
Place: Spain (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1816–1820
Medium: Brush with black ink and gray and black wash on ivory laid paper
Inscriptions: Inscribed recto, lower margin, in graphite: "Cuydado con ese paso"; inscribed upper margin, in pen and brown ink: "30"
Dimensions: 26.4 × 18.2 cm (10 7/16 × 7 3/16 in.)
Credit Line: Helen Regenstein Collection
Reference Number: 1958.542R
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/109300/manifest.json

Enrico Crispolti, “Disegni inediti di Goya,” Commentari, 9 (April-June 1958), p. 125.
Eleanor A. Sayre, “An Old Man Writing: A Study of Goya’s Albums,” Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 56 (1958), pp. 116-36 (ill.).
Harold Joachim, “Notes on Some Recently Acquired Drawings,” The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly, 52 (April 1959), pp. 22-27 (ill.).
Art Quarterly, 22 (Summer, 1959), p. 196 (ill.)
Archivo Espanol de Arte, 32 (October, 1959), no. 82 (ill.).
Connoisseur, CXLIV (November, 1959), p. 138 (ill.).
Gazette des Beaux Arts, 57 (February, 1961), p. 41 (ill.).
Betsy G. Fryberger, “Dream and Nightmare,” The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly, 56 (Winter 1962-63), pp. 65-67.
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (London, 1970), pp. 152-153 (ill.).
Jose Gudiol, Goya, 1746-1828: Biography, Analytical Study and Catalogue of his Paintings (Barcelona, 1971), no. 869 (ill.).
Pierre Gassier and Juliet Wilson, The Life and Complete Works of Fransisco Goya (New York, 1971), p. 289, nos. 1399-1400 (ill.).
Pierre Gassier, “Une source inédite de dessins de Goya en France aux XIXème siècle,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts (July-August 1972), pp. 278-320.
Pierre Gassier, Francisco Goya: Drawings: The Complete Albums (New York, 1973), pp. 185 and 215, E.30.
Harold Joachim, Italian Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries and Spanish Drawings of the 17th through 19th Centuries (Chicago, 1980), nos. 3B9-3B10.

New York, Wildenstein and Company, “Master Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago,” October 17-November 30, 1963, n.p., cat. 121, pl. 24.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “The Regenstein Collection of European Drawings,” 1974, pp. 46-47, cat. 22 (ill.), cat. by Harold Joachim.
Frankfurt-am-Main, Staedtische Galerie im Staedelschen Kunstinstitut, “Goya: Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik,” February 13-April 5, 1981, cat. L50.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Great Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago: The Harold Joachim Years 1958-1983,” July 24-September 30, 1985, pp. 114-15, cat. 50 (ill.), cat. by Martha Tedeschi.

Probably by descent to the artist’s son, Javier Goya, Madrid [according to Sayre 1958]. Mariano Goya, Madrid [according to Joachim 1979]. Valentin Carderera, Madrid (?) [according to Joachim 1979]. Paul Lebas, Paris. Sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 3, 1877, lot 95, to Paul Meurice (died 1905), Paris [according to Gassier 1973]; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 25, 1906, lot 92. Sold, Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, April 9, 1957, Anonymous sale, lot 6. Sold by Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York, to the Art Institute, 1957.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Currently Off View

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

Explore Further

Suggested Terms

Currently Off View

Date:

Artist:

About this artwork

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

Extended information about this artwork

Publication History

Exhibition History

Provenance

Share

Explore Further

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Gallery actions

Image actions

Share

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.