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.
Artwork Details
- 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
- Dimensions: Sheet: 9 5/16 × 5 7/8 in. (23.7 × 14.9 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935
- Object Number: 35.103.24
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
1799, posthumous impression
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
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