The story of revenge depicted here might have been inspired by an episode that occurred in Goya’s hometown of Zaragoza in the mid-eighteenth century, which the artist could have learned about as a child. The composition, organized around a melee of bodies and faces seen from an unusual viewpoint, enhances the main narrative: it emphasizes the singular act of a woman injecting a lethal substance into the victim’s anus while her companions restrain him. Goya left blank the upper part of the sheet so he could include a lengthy explanation, uncommon to drawings from this album.
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Inscription: Numbered in brush and brown ink upper right: 86 (partially trimmed); to the right of which and below, in pen and black ink: '49.' [pertaining to Fortuny Album, no.49]; Inscribed in pen and brown ink: 'Muerte del Alguacil Lampiños, por per / seguidor de estudiantes, y mugeres de fortuna, / las qe. le hecharon una labatiba con cal viva' (Death of Constable Lampiños for his persecution of students and prostitutes, who gave him a douche of quick lime).
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.
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.1502; Gassier 1973, no.F86 [347]
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.
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.
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. 239.
Pierre Gassier, Juliet Wilson Bareau Goya His Life and Work. London, 1971, London, 1971, Part III, p 295, fig 1502 (ill, and listed)., fig. no. 1502, Part III, p. 295, ill.
Pierre Gassier Francisco Goya Drawings, The Complete Albums. New York, 1973, ill. plate F. 86, p. 459., fig. no. 347, p. 492.
A. Hyatt Mayor Goya: 67 Drawings. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974, no.60, repr.
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.
Mark McDonald Goya's Graphic Imagination. New York, 2021, (entry by Francisco J.R. Chaparro), cat. no. 63, pp. 198–99.
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