Young Lady with a Parasitic Twin Wearing a Mantilla and Basquiña
Pen and ink, 9 x 7 inches, 2006
The inspiration for this drawing came from a lithograph in an antique medical journal in which the patient holds a pose nearly
identical to that in Francisco Goya's Young Lady Wearing a Mantilla and Basquiña (circa 1800).
Even the facial features were similar, but the expressions were rather different: embarrassed in the former versus quietly confident in the latter.
I was struck by the contrast between the palpable vulnerability of the medical illustration and the glamour of Goya's painting, which is practically a fashion plate.
Goya's subject was obviously pleased to have her portrait painted in her finest clothes and confronts the viewer directly; but my subject was more modest, so I have chosen to avert her gaze.
