Description
Among the great figures of the pictorial arts in the West, Francisco de Goya is one of the very few whose work as a graphic artist is arguably even more important than his paintings. Alongside a prodigious output of prints, he created eight sketchbooks of drawings over the course of 30 years. This double-sided sheet comes from the so-called Album B, or Madrid Album, which, like all of them, was scattered throughout the world in public and private collections after his death. The drawings reveal Goya’s powers of invention and observation, and his biting satire. On the recto side of the sheet, a vulgar encounter between a prostitute and a pot-bellied lecher reveals the bluntness of the Goya’s social criticism. The verso drawing is less easily pinned down, though it follows traditional iconography for representations of Saint Margaret of Cortona, a nobleman’s mistress who repented and entered a convent after her lover’s dog led her to his murdered corpse.
Provenance
by inheritance from the artist to his son, Javier Goya y Bayeu (1784-1854), Madrid (1828-1854); by inheritance to his son, Mariano Goya y Goicoechea (1806-1874), Madrid (1854-around 1855-60); sold by Mariano to Valentin Carderera y Solano (1796-1880), Madrid, or to Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (1806-1874), Madrid, or his brother-in-law Román Garreta y Huerta (around 1855/60); Given or sold by Madrazo to Scipione Vannutelli (1834–1894), Rome (around 1866-75); by descent to his heirs, the Clementi-Vannutelli family. (1894-1960s); Dorothy Braude Edinburg (1920-2015), Boston (?-around 1987); Jo-Ann Edinburg Pinkowitz, John Edinburg, and Hope Edinburg, Boston (around 1987); their sale, Sotheby's, New York, 12 November 1987, lot 108 (1987); with David Carritt Ltd/Artemis Group, London and New York (1994); the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1995)
Young Woman (possibly a Sex Worker) with a Man (recto); Young Woman Wringing Her Hands over a Man's Naked Body (verso)
1796–97
Accession Number
1995.15
Medium
brush and gray and black washes on laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 18.7 x 12 cm (7 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.); Sheet: 23.5 x 14.5 cm (9 1/4 x 5 11/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund