Nothing is Known of This; two figures picking up a body in front of a church, a monk singing next to them and another in the background; page 7 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)
This drawing has been interpreted as depicting a funerary procession, with two hooded monks carrying what appears to be a shrouded corpse in the foreground, followed by figures exiting a church. Strangely, the two men holding the supposed corpse barely touch it, as if it were weightless. This could be because it is not a corpse, but rather a skeleton, recently exhumed by the Inquisition. If the drawing is a reference to their persecution, its caption might refer to the "secrecy laws"—the lack of accountability and transparency—that cloaked the Inquisition’s procedures.
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Title:Nothing is Known of This; two figures picking up a body in front of a church, a monk singing next to them and another in the background; page 7 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)
Series/Portfolio:Witches and Old Women Album
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, scraper, on laid paper
Inscription: Inscribed in black chalk below the image: 'De esto nada se sabe' (Nothing is known of this); numbered in brush and brown wash upper centre: '7'; in the upper right corner in pen and dark ink: '24.' [pertaining to Fortuny Album I. no. 24]
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.1371; Gassier 1973, no.D7 [99]
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.
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, fig. no. 19, ill.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, fig. no. 1371, part III, p. 288, ill.
Pierre Gassier Francisco Goya Drawings, The Complete Albums. New York, 1973, ill. plate D7, p. 146, fig. no. 99, p. 146, ill.
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974, no. 25, repr., fig. no. 25.
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. 193, no. L37, repr., fig. no. L37, p. 193.
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.
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. 53, pp. 180–82.
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. 7, pp. 92–93.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Mercedes Cerón-Peña), cat. no. 81, pp. 238–39.
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