{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund","caption":"Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828; born Fuendetodos, Spain; died Bordeaux, France), Monk Talking to an Old Woman, ca. 1824–25. Carbon black and watercolor on ivory; 5.7 x 5.4 cm, 22.9 x 22.9 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (y1985-6)","cultureterms":[{"id":2031673,"culture":"Spanish"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2053164,"term":"watercolors","aatid":300078925,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2088280,"term":"women","aatid":300025943,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2055657,"term":"figures (representations)","aatid":300189808,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2099815,"term":"emotion","aatid":300055150,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2099830,"term":"fear","aatid":300055160,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2031673,"term":"Spanish","aatid":300111215,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2051964,"term":"drawings","aatid":300033973,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2088122,"term":"elderly","aatid":300025913,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2090926,"term":"monks","aatid":300025765,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2095324,"term":"expression","aatid":300069339,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2167929,"term":"watercolor","aatid":300015045,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2166225,"term":"ivory","aatid":300011857,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"5.70"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"5.40"},{"element":"frame","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"22.86"},{"element":"frame","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"22.86"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"1985-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":4920,"displayname":"Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes","displaydate":"1746–1828; born Fuendetodos, Spain; died Bordeaux, France","datebegin":1746,"dateend":1828,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, 1746–1828; born Fuendetodos, Spain; died Bordeaux, France","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1824,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Drawings","packages":[{"packageid":210962,"name":"Z_JS European On View 10 years"},{"packageid":182999,"name":"image_descriptions_eps_painitings"},{"packageid":246533,"name":"EPS Provenance Nazi-era gaps"},{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":206417,"name":"image_descriptions_top250"},{"packageid":167646,"name":"web_highlights"},{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"},{"packageid":192129,"name":"PUAM_Highlights"},{"packageid":276252,"name":"Nazi Era Sept 2025 list for web"},{"packageid":207234,"name":"SAB_Gala2021"},{"packageid":194459,"name":"PUAM_Watercolors & Pastels"},{"packageid":267450,"name":"Web_CA_2025_European"},{"packageid":225374,"name":"Gallery_02-05(Pavilion1)-European [3]"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2051964,"classification":"drawings"},{"id":2053164,"classification":"watercolors"}],"exhibitions":[{"exhibitionid":961,"citation":"An Educated Eye: The Princeton University Art Museum Collection (Friday, February 22, 2008 - Sunday, June 15, 2008)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2008-02-22","enddate":"2008-06-15","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/961"}],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1985-6"],"displaytitle":"Monk Talking to an Old Woman","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, 1746–1828; born Fuendetodos, Spain; died Bordeaux, France","captionhtml":"Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828; born Fuendetodos, Spain; died Bordeaux, France), Monk Talking to an Old Woman, ca. 1824–25. Carbon black and watercolor on ivory; 5.7 x 5.4 cm, 22.9 x 22.9 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (y1985-6)","displaydate":"ca. 1824–25","medium":"Carbon black and watercolor on ivory","media":[{"id":3483,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1985-6","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"1913 Armory Show: 50th anniversary exhibition, 1963, (Utica, NY: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute?, 1963).","citation":"1913 Armory Show: 50th anniversary exhibition, 1963, (Utica, NY: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute?, 1963)., p. 191","date":1963,"id":4755,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/698352"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1985,\" Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 45, no. 1 (1986): p.16–42","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1985,\" Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 45, no. 1 (1986): p.16–42, p. 18 (illus.)","date":1986,"id":521,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774653"},{"boilertext":"Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 210","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"Sir William Rothenstein, Goya, (New York: Longmans Green, 1901).","citation":"Sir William Rothenstein, Goya, (New York: Longmans Green, 1901)., p. 37, pl. 12","date":1901,"id":4999,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/2539644"},{"boilertext":"Paul Lafond, Goya, (Paris: Librairie de l'art ancien et moderne, 1902).","citation":"Paul Lafond, Goya, (Paris: Librairie de l'art ancien et moderne, 1902)., no. 61","date":1902,"id":5000,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/688563"},{"boilertext":"Valerian von Loga, Francisco de Goya, (Berlin: G. Grote'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1903).","citation":"Valerian von Loga, Francisco de Goya, (Berlin: G. Grote'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1903)., p. 224","date":1903,"id":5001,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/488181922"},{"boilertext":"August L. Mayer, Francisco de Goya, (München: F. Bruckmann, 1923).","citation":"August L. Mayer, Francisco de Goya, (München: F. Bruckmann, 1923)., no. 542, fig. 290","date":1923,"id":5003,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/2226829"},{"boilertext":"Forbes Watson, John Quinn, 1870-1925, collection of paintings, water colors, drawings & sculpture., (Huntington, NY: Pidgeon Hill Press, 1926).","citation":"Forbes Watson, John Quinn, 1870-1925, collection of paintings, water colors, drawings & sculpture., (Huntington, NY: Pidgeon Hill Press, 1926)., p. 26","date":1926,"id":5004,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/1023199"},{"boilertext":"Eleanor A. Sayre, \"Goya's Bordeaux miniatures\", Boston museum bulletin 64, no. 337 (1966): p. 84-123.","citation":"Eleanor A. Sayre, \"Goya's Bordeaux miniatures\", Boston museum bulletin 64, no. 337 (1966): p. 84-123., p. 88, no. 337, fig. 1; p. 118, no. 13","date":1966,"id":5005,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/4171455"},{"boilertext":"Jose Gudiol, Goya, 1746-1828: Biography, analytical study and catalogue of his paintings, (Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa, 1971).","citation":"Jose Gudiol, Goya, 1746-1828: Biography, analytical study and catalogue of his paintings, (Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa, 1971)., Vol. 1: p. 348, no. 748\r\nVol. 4: p. 1825, fig. 1243.","date":1971,"id":5006,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/1636533"},{"boilertext":"Pierre Gassier and Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Goya: his life and work, with a catalogue raisonné of the paintings, drawings and engravings, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1971).","citation":"Pierre Gassier and Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Goya: his life and work, with a catalogue raisonné of the paintings, drawings and engravings, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1971)., p. 362, no. 1685","date":1971,"id":5007,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/257823"},{"boilertext":"Paul Guinard and Rita De Angelis, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Goya, (Paris: Flammarion, 1976).","citation":"Paul Guinard and Rita De Angelis, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Goya, (Paris: Flammarion, 1976)., p. 136, no. 676","date":1976,"id":5008,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/231792556"},{"boilertext":"Francisco Goya, L'opera pittorica completa di Goya, (Milano: Rizzoli, 1974).","citation":"Francisco Goya, L'opera pittorica completa di Goya, (Milano: Rizzoli, 1974)., no. 676","date":1974,"id":5009,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/1868694"},{"boilertext":"Chronique des arts: supplément à la Gazette des beaux-arts (Mar. 1986).","citation":"Chronique des arts: supplément à la Gazette des beaux-arts (Mar. 1986)., p. 32, fig. 196","date":1986,"id":5010,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/610394726"},{"boilertext":"Judith Zilczer, \"The noble buyer\" : John Quinn, patron of the avant-garde, (Washington, D.C.: Published for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, by the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978).","citation":"Judith Zilczer, \"The noble buyer\" : John Quinn, patron of the avant-garde, (Washington, D.C.: Published for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, by the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978)., p. 161","date":1978,"id":5011,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/3706925"},{"boilertext":"Janis A. Tomlinson, Francisco Goya y Lucientes, 1746-1828, (London: Phaidon, 1994).","citation":"Janis A. Tomlinson, Francisco Goya y Lucientes, 1746-1828, (London: Phaidon, 1994)., p. 278, no. 227 (color illus.); pp. 277-282","date":1994,"id":5012,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/30336652"},{"boilertext":"Juliet Wilson-Bareau and Manuela B. Mena Marques, Goya: el capricho y la invención, (Madrid: Museo del Prado, 1993).","citation":"Juliet Wilson-Bareau and Manuela B. Mena Marques, Goya: el capricho y la invención, (Madrid: Museo del Prado, 1993)., p. 328, fig. 108","date":1993,"id":5013,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/738565339"},{"boilertext":"Janis A. Tomlinson, Goya: images of women, (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002).","citation":"Janis A. Tomlinson, Goya: images of women, (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002)., cat. no. 63; p. 215 (illus.); p. 253","date":2002,"id":5014,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/48691431"},{"boilertext":"Susan Grace Galassi and Jonathan Brown, Goya's last works, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006).","citation":"Susan Grace Galassi and Jonathan Brown, Goya's last works, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006)., pp. 130-31, cat. no. 14","date":2006,"id":5015,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/315258284"},{"boilertext":"Martin Sebastian Soria, \"Las miniaturas u etratos-miniaturas de Goya\", Cobalto 2 (1949).","citation":"Martin Sebastian Soria, \"Las miniaturas u etratos-miniaturas de Goya\", Cobalto 2 (1949)., no.5, fig. 5","date":1949,"id":5041,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/25118862"},{"boilertext":"Catalogue of International Exhibition of Modern Art, (New York: Association of American Painters and Sculptors, 1913).","citation":"Catalogue of International Exhibition of Modern Art, (New York: Association of American Painters and Sculptors, 1913)., no. 588","date":1913,"id":4067,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/3410607"},{"boilertext":"Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 201 (illus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"},{"boilertext":"Marilyn Satin Kushner and Kimberly Orcutt , eds., The Armory Show at 100: modernism and revolution, (New York: New-York Historical Society; London: in association with D. Giles, 2013).","citation":"Marilyn Satin Kushner and Kimberly Orcutt , eds., The Armory Show at 100: modernism and revolution, (New York: New-York Historical Society; London: in association with D. Giles, 2013).","date":2013,"id":1739,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/857525115"},{"boilertext":"Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986)","citation":"Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 99 (illus.)","date":1986,"id":1899,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/14244748"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"European Painting and Sculpture ","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199321,"term":"European Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199323,"term":"Latin American Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199327,"term":"Prints and Drawings","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199338,"term":"Nazi-era gaps","termtype":"Provenance & Cultural Heritage"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1800-1850","dateend":1829,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Monk Talking to an Old Woman","titletype":"Published","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"y1985-6","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nThis haunting miniature, reproduced here at actual size, exemplifies Goya’s interest in various painting techniques and his experimental use of media for expressive effect. A tall monk and a smaller old woman seem frightened or surprised by something they see in our direction. The monk appears to talk to the horrified, staring woman. The unsettling quality of their expressions and ambiguity of the scene are characteristic of Goya’s genius.

\r\nThe refinement of the palette, precious support, and intimate scale suggest the ivories painted in exile were intensely private. Goya’s experience of creating works of art in series (especially in his prints) is evident in this medium, as he worked out similar disturbing scenes with psychological overtones in the other known ivories. They build on his achievement in the enigmatic Black Paintings, completed in the Quinta del Sordo a few years before he left Spain for Bordeaux. Such disquieting content, long present in peripheral figures in the paintings or as primary subject matter in his prints, is here allowed free reign. Goya’s miniatures are a towering achievement.

\r\nAccording to the only written account, Goya worked from a spot of water dropped on the surface of the ivory, which he had blackened. It remains a mystery what led the aged artist to experiment in this manner. The order in which the preserved miniatures were painted and the reconstruction of the progress of his technical skill in the new medium are likewise issues to be studied further by specialists.

\r\nGoya surpasses all of his contemporaries in his modernity. With his emphasis on the primacy of artistic process and chance, and of uncertain and subjective meanings, he reaches beyond Romanticism and sows the seeds for the artistic developments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. That he should do so most persuasively and enigmatically in the medium of these small miniatures, painted on the thinnest sheets of ivory, is astonishing, as he subverts and renews an art form traditionally intended for portraits, small likenesses to be carried or worn on one’s person.

\r\nThe place of the Princeton miniature in the history of art, however, is demonstrable. This miniature was in the collection of the New York lawyer, art lover, and collector John Quinn (1870–1924), who lent it to the groundbreaking Armory Show in 1913. It is thus a document for the history of American avant-garde taste and the critical fortunes of the most troubling and suggestive of the great Spanish painters, an artist who can claim the title of the first modern master.

","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Edward Habich, Kassel; his sale, Gutekunst, Stuttgart, April 27-28, 1899, lot 306; William Rothstein, London, by 1900; John Quinn, New York, by 1913; his sale, American Art Galleries, New York, February 9-12, 1927, lot 29; P. Lorillard, New York; Mrs. E. John Heidsieck, New York; her sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, February 12-13, 1943, lot 278; Mrs. Robert Maisel, New York; Richard L. Feigen, New York, 1984; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 1985.","remarks":"Entry from the exhibition catalog, Goya's Last Works (Frick, 2006), which is more detailed than PUAM accession card"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"

\n\tA woman looks out in horror as a monk looms over her, his mouth agape. Goya made this haunting miniature around the age of seventy-nine, when he was living in exile in Bordeaux after fleeing the oppressive rule of Spain’s King Ferdinand VII. Although his eyesight was deteriorating, Goya devised a new, experimental method of painting that relied on chance and imagination rather than observation of nature. The artist blackened small ivory plaques with carbon and let drops of water randomly fall on them to reveal the ivory beneath. In this example, he transformed two drops into the faces of the monk and the woman.\n

","remarks":"EUR1_02-05_CLA-Day 1 Cataloguing"}],"datebegin":1819,"sortnumber":"1985 6y","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:31:56.297619","objectid":32861,"dimensions":"5.7 x 5.4 cm (2 1/4 x 2 1/8 in.)\r\nframe: 22.9 x 22.9 cm (9 x 9 in.)","on_view":true}