Here, a woman raises an ax to behead a supine peasant, who is perhaps resting from work in the fields. We cannot determine the reason for the attack, but the blankly determined face of the aggressor—who roughly evokes Death carrying a scythe—might signal retribution. The drawing manifests Goya’s unique ability to suggest sequence by indirectly condensing time. While omitting the culminating moment of the blade’s impact, he alludes to it: the logs parallel to the man’s body evoke the act of chopping, and the cloud of dust raised by the woman’s abrupt movement conjures the effect of blood spurting.
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Title:A woman attacking a sleeping man; page 87 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, brown ink washes, traces of black chalk, on laid paper
Dimensions:Sheet: 8-1/16 x 5-5/8 in. (20.5 x 14.3cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935
Object Number:35.103.46
Inscription: Numbered in brush and brown ink upper right: '87'; next to which in pen and dark ink: '46.' [pertaining to Fortuny Album, no. 46].
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.
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen. "Goya's Realism," February 11, 2000–May 7, 2000.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Goya: Images of Women," March 10, 2002–June 2, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goya’s Graphic Imagination," February 8–May 2, 2021.
Gassier and Wilson 1971, no.1503; Gassier 1973, no.348
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, fig. 2 (incl. bibliography)., fig. no. 2, pp 23–28, ill.
A Survey of Spanish Painting Through Goya. Baltimore, 1937, fig. no. 35, ill.
An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints by Francisco Goya. San Francisco, 1937, California Palace of the Legion of Honor. (listed), p 37, no. 30 (ill.) (gives ex colls, references and exhibitions) 1937, pl. 30 (ill.), fig. no. 30, p. 37, ill.
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, also N.S., no. 33., cat. no. 28 (vol.2), fig. no. 28, ill.
Goya: Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1955, Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue supplement, no. 234, fig. no. 234, ill.
Goya and His Times. Exh. cat., December 7, 1963 - March 1, 1964. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1963, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1963-64, p.93, cat. no 186 (gives ex colls., exhibitions and references)., p. 93.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, London, 1971, Part III, p 295, fig 1503 (ill, and listed)., fig. no. 1503, p. 295, ill.
Pierre Gassier Francisco Goya Drawings, The Complete Albums. New York, 1973, ill. plate F. 87, p. 460., fig. no. 348, p. 493, ill.
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974, no.61, repr, fig. no. 61, ill.
Europalia 85 España, Goya. Exh. cat. Bruxelles, 1985, Bruxelles, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 26 September - December 22, 1985, p 228, no D18, repr. in color on p. 156.
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.
Janis Tomlinson, Francisco Calvo Serraller, Aileen Ribeiro, Concha Herrero Carretero, Anna Reuter Goya: Images of Women. Exh. cat., The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., March 10-June 2, 2002. Washington D.C., 2002, cat. no. 110, ill.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Francisco J.R. Chaparro), cat. no. 64, pp. 200–1.
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