Nowhere is Goya’s regard for drawings as finished artworks more evident than in the present sheet. Technical variety and a carefully orchestrated composition combine to produce one of his most striking images. Banditry was common in Spain during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when vast expanses of sparsely populated land provided refuge and cover for nefarious activities. Beneath an entrance to a cave or a dark sky, a man leads an elegantly dressed young woman and her child to a fate the viewer is left to imagine. Her stooped posture and downcast features express despondency and resignation. The abductor also conveys a sense of unease through his expression, the awkward angle at which he stands, and the dagger held high, exaggerating its efficacy.
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Inscription: Numbered in brush and brown ink upper center: '41'; to the right and above in pen and ink: '50.'; [pertaining to Fortuny Album, no.50]; underneath the lower border in graphite: 'Dios nos libre de tan amargo lance' (God save us from such a bitter fate).
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.
Hayward Gallery. "Goya: Drawings from His Private Albums," February 22, 2001–May 13, 2001.
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "Goya: Prophet der Moderne," July 13, 2005–October 3, 2005.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. "Goya: Prophet der Moderne," October 18, 2005–January 8, 2006.
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.1410; Gassier 1973, no. E41 [136]
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, cat. no. 24.
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, cat. no. 24, cat. no. 24.
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.
Goya: Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1955, Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue supplement, no. 207.
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.90, cat. no 177 (gives ex colls., exhibitions and references). illustrated souvenir catalogue pl. 54 (ill.), fig. no. 54, p. 90, ill.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, London, 1971, Part III, p 289, fig 1410 (ill, and listed). p. 375 (mentioned)., fig. no. 1410, p. 289, ill.
Pierre Gassier Francisco Goya Drawings, The Complete Albums. New York, 1973, ill. plate E41, p. 217, no. 136., fig. no. 136, p. 217.
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974, no.31, repr.
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Eleanor Sayre Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment. Exh. cat. Museo del Prado, October 6-December 18, 1988 ; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 18-March 26, l989 ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 9-July 16, 1989 (English edition). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 1988, (English edition of exhibition catalogue: Madrid-Boston-New York), Boston, 1989, pp. 293-295, no. 131, repr. (exhibited in Boston and New York only; see Bibliography for Spanish edition of catalogue).
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Eleanor Sayre Goya y espíritu de la ilustración. Spanish edition of exhibition catalogue: Madrid-Boston-New York, 1988. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Spanish. Spain, 1988, Spanish edition of exhibition catalogue: 1988 Madrid-Boston-New York, pp.388-389, no. 131, repr. (drawing not exhibited in Madrid; see Exhibition card).
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. 13, p. 24, ill.
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. 84, p. 193, ill.
Prof. Dr. Peter-Klaus Schuster, Wilfried Seipel, Manuela Mena Marqués Goya: Prophet der Moderne. Exh. cat., Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Kohln, 2005, (entry by Gudrun Mühle-Maurer), cat. no. 136, p. 307.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Mark McDonald), cat. no. 79, pp.234–35, ill.
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