Francisco de Goya

Goya paired this sheet depicting a solitary woman with one depicting a worker with his hands raised in anger and desperation. A melancholic tone is struck: some are resigned to fate, some rail against it. With an awareness of the larger forces at play in life, the artist showed empathy for the downtrodden, although the caption may have a sardonic edge. While Goya’s figures often appear deftly drawn by quick strokes of the brush, sheets such as this one— with its visible correction to the woman’s profile— indicate the great care he took with these drawings.