'Nothing is Known of This' ; two figures picking up a body in front of a church, a monk singing next to them and another in the background; page 7 from the Witches and Old Women Album (D)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca.1819–23 · Brush, carbon black and gray ink and wash, scraper, on laid paper · Drawings and Prints
This drawing has been interpreted as depicting a funerary procession, with two hooded monks carrying what appears to be a shrouded corpse in the foreground, followed by figures exiting a church. Strangely, the two men holding the supposed corpse barely touch it, as if it were weightless. This could be because it is not a corpse, but rather a skeleton, recently exhumed by the Inquisition. If the drawing is a reference to their persecution, its caption might refer to the "secrecy laws"—the lack of accountability and transparency—that cloaked the Inquisition’s procedures.
- Artist
- Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
- Date
- ca.1819–23
- Medium
- Brush, carbon black and gray ink and wash, scraper, on laid paper
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935
