"Goya was the penultimate artist"

Which episode, who said it, and what does it mean?

'Suitable for Framing'

The murderer said it on tv (I don't readily recall his name), in his art show on tv. I thought it meant that Goya was the one but last artist to be discussed in the show.

Dale Kingston, the slimiest villain on Columbo.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso.

Goya is also a brand of food which Puerto Ricans buy from. Like tres Leche, Coco Rico Soda and plaintain chips. I know this becuase I am Puerto Rican myself

I never understood why Kingston said "penultimate," because it means "next to last" and he said it at what appeared to be the end of his show... maybe he just got the word wrong? It really doesn't seem to make sense.

As a side note, I love how the show doesn't end right away, so Kingston is forced to hold his cheesy and increasingly-insincere grin. Then he complains to the crew about it. Such a weasel!

He is my favourite murderer of the series, he is a weasel its true but just the way he went about things , killing two people and then trying to stitch his auntie up for the first murder, the look on his face at the end when everything began to fall apart in front of him was a picture, i would have to say that suitable for framing has to be in my all time top 3 episodes, a classic!!!!!!

Thanks for the replies everyone.

As Dirk says, I think it's probably a mistake. Probably he should have said, "Goya was the ultimate artist", meaning "Goya was the epitome of a good artist", and Kingston is incorrectly using "penultimate" to mean "the absolute best" rather than "next to last". It comes just after the terribly corny line about "wart" and "art", so maybe the "high-speed turpentine" has gone to his head! And I love that cheesy grin at the end as well!

By the way, does anyone think it's odd that an art documentary is apparently being broadcast live? Or that Tracy is apparently able to telephone directly to the film set?

I agree that Kingston is misusing the word "penultimate" to mean something akin to "consummate." It's unclear whether this is a deliberate error to reveal Kingston's overblown pomposity, or whether the screenwriter actually used "penultimate" wrong and no one caught the error (it's an obscure enough word, and if you're not sure what it means, it *sounds* like it's being used right in the scene). My bet is that it was a genuine error in the writing.

Great insight, Dirk and TDL -- clearly, as you say, the word should have been consummate. I have tended to assume it was an isolated moment of ignorance on the part of the writer, or perhaps simple human error by the actor in his reading. But I like your idea that it instead represents the writer's full intention to show the character's pompous mis-use of a "big word". Thanks for sharing this idea.

Apparently (as I've discovered since starting the thread) 'penultimate' is an word commonly misused to mean 'absolutely the best', or, as you say, 'consummate'. But the suggestion this was added deliberately to add extra smarm to an already oily character is intriguing.

Any other examples of words being misused in 'Columbo'?

I’m delighted to find people talking about this 😂

I just watched the episode & noticed the “penultimate” thing so came to look it up

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