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Francisco Goya

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Francisco Goya
1746-1828
Pesadilla
ca. 1816-1820
Black wash on laid paper.
10 3/8 x 6 3/4 inches (264 x 171 mm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Bernhard.
1959.13
Notes: 

Dreams and nightmares are a leitmotif of Goya's art. Toward the end of his life, he drew increasingly for his own pleasure, executing eight albums lettered A through H and variously named. Album E, the Black Border Album, is the largest in format and the most easily recognizable. This drawing depicts a disheveled woman astride a flying bull. Still entangled in her bedding, she screams in terror, her eyes bulging. While the image of a woman and bull traditionally personified the European continent, Goya's pair seems to personify the turmoil in Spain following the Peninsular War. --Exhibition Label, from "Visions and Nightmares: Four Centuries of Spanish Drawings"

Inscription: 

Inscribed by the artist at bottom in black chalk, "Pesadilla"; numbered by him at top in brown ink, "20". Numbered by another hand in black ink, "41".
Watermark: countermark: J HO[NIG], fragment.

Provenance: 
Eugene Calando (Lugt 837); Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Bernhard.
Watermark: 
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Associated names: 

Calando, Eugene, former owner.
Bernhard, Richard J., former owner.
Bernhard, Richard J., Mrs., former owner.

Bibliography: 

Pierpont Morgan Library. Review of Acquisitions, 1949-1968. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969, p. 148.
Adams, Frederick B., Jr., comp. Ninth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1958 & 1959. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1959, p. 112-114.

Catalog link: 
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Artist page: 
Goya, Francisco
School: 
Spanish
Century: 
18th century
Classification: 
Drawing
Department: 
Drawings and Prints