- Cronología
- Ca. 1810 - 1820
- Ubicación
- The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Dimensiones
- 210 x 154 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Documented work
- Titular
- El Prado National Museum
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 25 Aug 2021 / 20 Apr 2023
- Inventario
- D3960
15 (in composite pencil, recto, lower left-hand corner)
45 (in composite pencil, recto, upper right-hand corner)
5 (in blue pencil, verso, upper part in the second support)
113 (in composite pencil, verso, upper right-hand side in the second support)
Frame partially marked with brush
The drawing passed by inheritance in 1828 to Javier Goya, the painter's son, and in 1854 to Mariano Goya y Goicoechea, the artist's grandson. It was subsequently owned by Valentín Carderera (ca. 1861) and Mariano Carderera (ca. 1880). In 1886 it was acquired from Mariano Carderera by the General Direction of Public Instruction and was assigned to the Prado Museum, where it entered on 12 November 1886.
The den of the title is a kind of cave in which a perverse coven of witches and other demonic characters takes place. Among the swirl of naked bodies flutter black crows. Below, in the foreground, a large winged head takes part in the orgy next to the enormous buttocks of one of the witches in the centre of the scene. The witches have bald heads and grotesque faces, and their bony, angular limbs are reminiscent of the witches in some of Goya's sketchbook drawings, such as Singing and Dancing (D.3), These Witches Will Say It (C.69) and Nothing They Say (C.70). The theme of the gathering of witches is common in other series by Goya, such as the Caprichos, although the gouache technique and its combination with sanguine suggest that it dates from a later period, although a similar chronology cannot be completely ruled out. Pérez Sánchez thinks it could be a preparatory drawing for an unknown engraving.
-
Goya e ItaliaMuseo de ZaragozaZaragoza2008organized by the Fundación Goya en Aragóna, consultant editor Joan Sureda Pons. From June 1st to September 15th 2008cat. 298
-
Europa 1789. Aufklärung, Verklärung, VerfallHamburger KunsthalleHamburg1989cat. 489
-
Roma D.Anderson: Editeur1908pp. il. CLXXXIV
-
BarcelonaLabor1925p. 231, n. 103
-
MadridMuseo del Prado1954n. 214
-
Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p. 296, cat. 1522
-
Dibujos de Goya, 2 volsBarcelonaNoguer1975p. 539, cat. 365
-
MadridEdiciones Alfiz1980s. p., cat. 36
-
ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja1980-1982p. 130
-
MadridFundación Goya en Aragón y Turner2008vol. 2, p. 315, cat. 298