One of the most striking drawings from the album, this work shows a frightened child being comforted by an adult, perhaps his father. Goya conceived a symmetrical composition divided into two distinct tonal levels, a dark and a light section. A shaded demarcation of the step at right and a triangle of light in the window above mirror each other. The geometric rigidity of the underground chamber makes a severe background that underscores the prisoners’ vulnerability. The edge of the step, the chain, and the two windows direct the eye and empathy to the pair standing shackled over a stain of pitch-black shadow.
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Inscription: Numbered in brush and brown ink upper right: '80' (partially trimmed); to the next of whichm in pen and dark ink: '44.' [pertaining to Fortuny Album, no.44].
Javier Goya y Bayeu, (from 1828); Mariano Goya y Goicoechea (Spanish), (from 1854); Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (Spanish), (from ca. 1855–1863); Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, (by gift in 1894)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Spain: Drawings, Prints and Photographs," April 18–July 16, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 12–December 31, 1995.
The Frick Collection, New York. "The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya," October 5, 2010–January 9, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya’s Graphic Imagination," February 8–May 2, 2021.
Gassier/and Wilson 1971, no.1498; Gassier 1973, no.343
An Exhibition of the Work of Goya Exh. cat., Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale. Paris, 1935, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Goya Exhibition, 1935, also Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1936.
Francisco Goya : his paintings, drawings and prints. Exh. cat.: MMA January 27 - March 8. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1936, Metropolitan Museum of Art, An Exhibition of the Work of Goya, 1936, also Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1935, cat. no. 33.
Harry B. Wehle "An Album of Goya's Drawings" in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. vol. 31, New York, February 1936, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. XXXI, 1936 (Feb. ), pp. 23-28 (incl. bibliography)., pp. 23-28.
Harry B. Wehle "Fifty Drawings by Francisco Goya." MMA Papers no. 7. New York, 1938.
Walter Mehring European Drawings from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Portfolio of Collotype Reproductions [Vol. 1: Italian Drawings; Vol. 2: Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings; Vol. 3: "New Series": Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3 vols., New York, 1942–44, also N.S., no. 34., cat. no. 29 (vol.2), fig. no. 29, ill.
Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums Seventy Master Drawings: A Loan Exhibition Arranged in Honor of Professor Paul J. Sachs on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday Exh. cat., Harvar Art Museums, Cambridge (November 27, 1948 - January 6, 1949). Cambridge, 1948, no. 53.
One Hundred Master Drawings. To accompany "Seventy master drawings," a loan exhibition at the Fogg Museum of Art, Nov. 1948-Jan. 1949, held on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Paul J. Sachs, and 30 additional drawings from the museum's collections
Exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge. edited by Agnes Mongan, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1949, p. 124, ill.
Goya: Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1955, Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue supplement, no. 232, fig. no. 232.
Diana Brandt, Columbia University Great Master Drawings of Seven Centuries. Exh. cat. New York, Oct 13-Nov 7 1959, fig. no. 88, pl. LIII.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, (ill. and Listed), fig. no. 1498, part III, p. 294, ill.
Pierre Gassier Francisco Goya Drawings, The Complete Albums. New York, 1973, ill. plate F. 80, p. 455., fig. no. 343, p. 492.
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974, no.58, repr, fig. no. 58.
Margret Stuffmann Goya Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik. Exh. cat., Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main, 13. Februar bis 5. April. 1981, Frankfurt am Main, Städelschen Kunstinstitut, (catalogue by Margret Stuffmann), 1981, p. 212, no. L71, repr., fig. no. L71.
Europalia 85 España, Goya. Exh. cat. Bruxelles, 1985, Bruxelles, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 26 September - December 22, 1985, p 230, no D23, repr. in color on p. 162., fig. no. D23 p. 162, p. 230, p.162.
Colta Ives, Susan Alyson Stein Goya in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., September 12 - December 31. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995, Baticle, Jeannine. Goya. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
Delteil, Loys. Le peinture graveur illustré. Vols. 14 and 15, Francisco Goya. Paris, 1922.
Gassier, Pierre. Francisco Goya, Drawings: The Complete Albums. Translated by James Emmons and Robert Allen.
Jonathan Brown, Lisa A. Banner, A. Schulz et al. The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya. Exh. cat., The Frick Collection, New York (October 5, 2010 - January 9, 2011). New York, 2010, (entry by Andrew Schulz), cat. no. 47, pp. 164–66, ill.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Francisco J.R. Chaparro), cat. no. 61, pp. 194–95.
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