Construction; page 46, from "Images of Spain" Album (F)

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The great project shown rising in the background of this drawing might be the Madrid Opera House or the column in Buen Retiro Park, both of which were under construction by 1819. But as in so much of Goya’s work, events and locations provided an opportunity to explore freely; ostensible realism was a vehicle for delving into other concerns. This drawing might relate to page 45 from the album (35.103.30) of a radiant woman, which has been interpreted as an allegory of constitutional Spain attacked by authoritarian forces. In that context, perhaps the present sheet refers to rebuilding a democratic system through common endeavor.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art