The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Young Woman Wringing Her Hands over a Man's Naked Body (verso)

Young Woman Wringing Her Hands over a Man's Naked Body (verso)

1796–97
(Spanish, 1746–1828)
Spain, 18th century
brush and black and gray wash
Sheet: 23.5 x 14.5 cm (9 1/4 x 5 11/16 in.); Image: 18.7 x 12 cm (7 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1995.15.b
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Much of Francisco de Goya's graphic output of drawings and prints was not made public until well after his death.

Description

Among the great figures of the pictorial arts in the West, Francisco de Goya is one of the very few whose work as a graphic artist is arguably even more important than his paintings. Alongside a prodigious output of prints, he created eight sketchbooks of drawings over the course of 30 years. This double-sided sheet comes from the so-called Album B, or Madrid Album, which, like all of them, was scattered throughout the world in public and private collections after his death. The drawings reveal Goya’s powers of invention and observation, and his biting satire. On the recto side of the sheet, a vulgar encounter between a prostitute and a pot-bellied lecher reveals the bluntness of the Goya’s social criticism. The verso drawing is less easily pinned down, though it follows traditional iconography for representations of Saint Margaret of Cortona, a nobleman’s mistress who repented and entered a convent after her lover’s dog led her to his murdered corpse.
  • Javier Goya; Mariano Goya; Valentín Carderera(?); Federico de Madrazo; Clementi-Vannutelli Collection, Rome. Dorothy Edinburg, Boston; Jo-Ann Edinburg Pinkowitz, John Edinburg, and Hope Edinburg; [sold by them at Sotheby's, New York, 12 November 1987, no. 108]. [Pace Gallery, New York]. [David Carritt Limited/The Artemis Group, London].
    On the early provenance of the work, see Gassier 1973, 14-16, and Juliet Wilson-Bareau, "Goya in the Metropolitan Museum," Burlington Magazine 138 (February 1996), 102.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: P. 11, 84-87, 287; Reproduced: p. 86, cat. no. 51
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 161
  • Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
  • {{cite web|title=Young Woman Wringing Her Hands over a Man's Naked Body (verso)|url=false|author=Francisco de Goya|year=1796–97|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1995.15.b