Nightmarish scenes and visions pervade Goya’s drawings. In this one, a ghost strumming a guitar and singing awakens a young nun. The nun’s asceticism is implied by her vehement attempt to dispel the spectral robed musician, who has been interpreted as representing earthly temptations. His masklike face adds a comical note to the work, embodying the nun’s distorted perception that music is a demonic pleasure. Goya continually re-elaborated imagery to mock various societal vices—in this case, blind religious devotion.
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Inscription: Numbered in brush and brown ink upper right: '65'; to the right of which in pen and dark
ink: '37.' [pertaining to Fortuny Album, no. 37].
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.
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. "Goya en tiempos de guerra," April 14, 2008–July 13, 2008.
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.1486; Gassier 1973, no.F65 [331]
Valentin Carderera "Les dessins de Goya." in Gazette des Beaux-Arts. vol. 7, Paris, 1860, In Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. VII, 1860, pp.222-227, pp. 222–27.
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, no. 297.
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, no. 297, cat. no. 31.
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. 31., cat. no. 26 (vol.2), fig. no. 26, ill.
Goya: Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1955, Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue supplement, no. 225.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, (ill. and Listed), fig. no. 1486, part III, p. 294.
Pierre Gassier Francisco Goya Drawings, The Complete Albums. New York, 1973, ill. plate F. 65, p. 443, fig. no. 331, p. 489.
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974, no. 50, repr, fig. no. 50.
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, fig. no. 17, p. 29, 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 Josè Manuel Matilla), cat. no. 141, pp. 408-9, 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. 44, pp. 158–59, ill.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Francisco J.R. Chaparro), cat. no. 58, pp. 188–89.
Goya and Munch Modern Prophecies. Oslo, Norway, 2023, pp. 290-315.
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