In this drawing, Goya crossed out the original caption "visión" and replaced it with "pesadilla" (nightmare), possibly as a pun on the origins of the term pesadilla in pesada, meaning the act of weighing. The revised caption might reference the heavy burden of the grinning old woman, who carries on her back two emaciated men in varying states of undress. Alternatively, the caption might suggest two further meanings of pesada, now obsolete: the oppression of the heart and difficulty in breathing during sleep, and an anguishing, persistent dream. Perhaps it is simply meant to echo the uneasiness of the vision.
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Artwork Details
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Title:'Nightmare'; an old woman carrying figures on her back; page 20 from the Witches and Old Women Album (D)
Artist:Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
Date:ca. 1819–23
Medium:Brush, carbon black and gray ink and wash, touches of black chalk, on laid paper
Dimensions:sheet: 9 3/16 x 5 11/16 in. (23.4 x 14.4 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1919
Object Number:19.27
Inscription: Numbered in pen and brown ink upper center '20'; in pen and dark brown ink upper right corner '22' (underlined, pertaining to Madrazo Album III). Below the figures, the title 'Pesadilla' (over a light indication of the same word) in black chalk written by Goya. To the left of 'Pesadilla' (Nightmare) the word 'Visión' (Vision) crossed out with two horizontal lines.
Marking: Stamped, lower right corner: ER (Lugt 897: Eugene Rodrigues); center, below title, MMA stamp (Lugt 1943). Inscribed in graphite on verso, lower center: 'Paul J. Sachs / Collection / 51288'
Javier Goya y Bayeu (Spanish); Mariano Goya y Goicoechea (Spanish); Federico de Madrazo y Küntz (Spanish); Román Garreta y Huerta (Spanish); Paul Lebas (French)(sale Drouot, 3.4.1877, lot 78 to Féral, 21 fr.); Eugène Rodrigues(Lugt 897); Paul J. Sachs (American), Cambridge
Washington D.C. National Gallery of Art. "Goya: Drawings and Prints," April 2–April 24, 1955.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya: Drawings and Prints," May 4–30, 1955.
Royal Academy of Arts. "Goya and His Times (London)," 1963–1964.
Indianapolis Museum of Art. "Treasures from the Metropolitan," October 25, 1970–January 3, 1971.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Old Master Drawings from American Collections," April 29, 1976–June 13, 1976.
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.
Hayward Gallery. "Goya: Drawings from His Private Albums," February 22, 2001–May 13, 2001.
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. "Goya en tiempos de guerra," April 14, 2008–July 13, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya’s Graphic Imagination," February 8–May 2, 2021.
Gassier and Wilson 1971, no.1376; Gassier 1973, D20 [104]
Bryson Burroughs "Drawings Among the Recent Acquisitions." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 14, no. 8, New York, August 1919, pp. 177–78, ill.
Harry B. Wehle "Fifty Drawings by Francisco Goya." MMA Papers no. 7. New York, 1938, fig. no. 10, p. 11.
Goya: Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1955, fig. no. 210.
Goya and His Times. Exh. cat., December 7, 1963 - March 1, 1964. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1963, cat. no. 169, p. 87.
Treasures from the Metropolitan. Exh. cat., Inaugural Exhibition of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Oct. 25, 1970 - Jan. 3, 1971. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1970, cat. no. 52, p. 75.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, fig. no. 1376, part 3, p. 288.
Pierre Gassier Francisco Goya Drawings, The Complete Albums. New York, 1973, fig. no. D. 20 [104], p. 151.
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, fig. no. 27, ill.
Ebria Feinblatt Old Master Drawings from American Collections. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1976, cat. no. 231, fig. no. 231, p. 214., ill.
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, fig. no. 9, p. 21, ill.
Juliet Wilson Bareau, Tom Lubbock Goya: Drawings From His Private Albums. Exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, February 22-May 13, 2001. London, 2001, cat. no. 91, pp. 195-96, ill.
Manuela Mena Marqués Manuela B. Mena Marqués, Manuela Mena Marqués Manuela B. Mena Marqués, Museo Nacional del Prado Goya en tiempos de guerra. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2008, (entry by Gudrun Maurer), cat. no. 138, pp. 402–3, ill.
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, p. 122, fig. 33 (text by Andrew Schulz).
Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Stephanie Buck , eds. Goya: The Witches and Old Women Album Exh. cat. The Courtauld Gallery, London. London, 2015, (entry by Edward Payne), cat. no. 20, pp. 116–17.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Mercedes Cerón-Peña), cat. no. 83, pp. 242–43.
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