This sheet was page 79 of an album of Goya drawings commonly referred to as Madrid Album B. At one point before the book was disassembled presumably by Javier Goya, the artist’s grandson, it consisted of as many as 94 drawings dating from around 1794 to 1797. Both this page and the drawing on its verso were likely composed during Goya’s convalescence from a relapse of a more serious attack that occurred in 1792, one that left him temporarily paralyzed and permanently deaf. The album itself reflects Goya’s sentiments about love, erotic pleasures and everyday city life, all of which he may have witnessed during his recuperative tour of cities in southern Spain.
The caption written on this particular drawing states “Tiene cortedad de desnudarse, bayá estese V. quieto” (She is bashful about undressing. Go on, keep still, will you). It is a playful, lighthearted commentary on flirtation, street walkers and sensual pleasures. The rakish gallant leans gently towards the young girl, perhaps whispering encouragement or entreaties. Goya tells us she is bashful, but her coy response might also be interpreted as timid, hesitant, or simply begrudging.
Details
- Artist Name: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828)
- Title: She Is Bashful About Undressing, Leave Me in Peace (tiene cortedad de desnudarse, bayá estese V. quieto) (recto)
- Date: 1796-1797
- Medium: Brush and carbon black ink wash on laid paper
- Dimensions: image: 7-5/8 x 5 in. (19.5 x 12.7 cm); sheet: 9-1/8 x 5-5/8 in. (23.2 x 14.2 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1974.04.2a.D
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Mr. and Mrs. William P. Roth, by descent to their son;
William Matson Roth, San Francisco, sold 1974, through;
[R.E. Lewis, Larkspur, Calif., to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
[on loan]
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1974-03-28 to
- Sayre, Eleanor A., The Burlington Magazine, nos. 79, 80, figs. 22, 23 p. 29
- Gassier, Pierre; Juliet Wilson and François Lachenal, The Life and Complete Work of Francisco Goya, 1971, nos. 437, 438 pp. 118-119, 160, 162, 175, 389, 397
- Gassier, Pierre, Francisco Goya Drawings: The Complete Albums, 1973, nos. B. 79, B. 80, figs. 82, 83 pp. 47, 109-110
- Pignatti, Terisio, Il disegno: da altamira a Picasso, 1981,
- Wilson-Bareau, Juliet, Goya: Truth and Fantasy. The Small Paintings, 1994, fig. 218 pp. 316-317
- Gassier, Pierre, Goya: Life and Work, 1994, pp. 118-119, 160, 162, 175, 389, 397
- Wilson-Bareau, Juliet, Goya: Drawings from his Private Albums, 2001, fig. 10 pp. 18-19
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1, 2006,
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1011A p. 362
- Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Goya in the Norton Simon Museum, 2016, cat. 4 pp. 6, 14, 96, 97 (ill.), 254, 288
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