The challenge of discerning the meaning of certain Goya works is exemplified by this drawing. The image’s correspondence with the biblical story of Susanna and the Elders, in which two old men spied upon a woman bathing, has long been noted. It has also been suggested that the drawing shows an illicit encounter between two lovers in the woods outside Madrid. More recently it was hypothesized that it represents summer. These interpretations are not without problems. It is more likely that Goya was experimenting with the fundamentals of a story like Susanna and the Elders, resulting in an image without a precise subject.
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Artwork Details
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Title:A partly naked woman seated by a stream; page 32 from the "Images of Spain" Album (F)
Series/Portfolio:Images of Spain Album
Artist:Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
Date:ca. 1812–20
Medium:Brush, bistre and wash, traces of red chalk, on laid paper
Dimensions:Sheet: 8-1/8 x 5-5/8 in. (20.6 x 14.3cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935
Object Number:35.103.25
Inscription: Numbered in brush and brown ink, upper right '32' (the bottom part only of which remains); in pen and ink, upper right '25' (the number '5' is partially trimmed) [pertaining to Fortuny Album I, no.25]
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. "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.
The Frick Collection, New York. "The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya," October 5, 2010–January 9, 2011.
Museo Nacional del Prado. "Drawings by Goya," November 19, 2019–February 16, 2020.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya’s Graphic Imagination," February 8–May 2, 2021.
Gassier and Wilson 1971, no.1458; Gassier 1973, no.303; Mayor 1974, no.36
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, ill.
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, cat. no. 24 (vol.2), fig. no. 24, ill.
Goya: Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1955, Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue supplement, no. 214.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, (ill. and Listed)., fig. no. 1458, part III, p. 299, ill.
Pierre Gassier Francisco Goya Drawings, The Complete Albums. New York, 1973, ill. plate F. 322, p. 415, fig. no. 303, p. 482, ill.
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974, no. 36, repr., fig. no. 36.
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. 211, no. L69, repr., fig. no. L69, p. 211.
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.
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. 52, p. 183, 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, (entry by Andrew Schulz), cat. no. 38, pp. 144–45, ill.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Francisco J.R. Chaparro), cat. no. 53, pp. 178–79, ill.
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