From the Black Border Album.
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. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Inscribed by the artist at lower center, in pencil, "Dejalo todo a la probidencia"; numbered by the artist at upper center, in pen and brown wash, "40".
Watermark: Possibly "J H[ONIG]" fragment.
Lebas, Paul, former owner.
Beurnonville, de, former owner.
Beurdeley, Alfred, 1847-1919, former owner.
Brame, Hector, former owner.
Wetmore, Edith Malvina Keteltas, 1870-1966, former owner.
Kup, Karl, 1903- former owner.
Ripperger, Helmut, former owner.
Hanley, T. Edward, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 174, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 66, repr. (also in Thaw III, no. 49)
Denison, Cara D. et al. The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and New Acquisitions. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1994, no. 49.
From Leonardo to Pollock: Master drawings from the Morgan Library. New York: Morgan Library, 2006, cat. no. 29, p. 64-65.