FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)

'The title alludes to the proverb: ‘From that dust comes this mud.’ In this scene, a woman brought up on charges by the Inquisition and seated, hands bound, on a platform, listens to her sentence: the death penalty, as indicated by the flames painted on the cap she is wearing. In attendance are numerous clerics with satisfied expressions, some looking with pleasure at the condemned woman, who shields herself from their gaze by bowing her head. A contemporary commentary condemns as unconscionable this punishment of a woman who has offered her services for little money to ‘the whole world’. This allusion to her clients no doubt includes the clergy, ‘that dust’ of the caption, who were responsible for creating victims of their own.’

S.L. Stepanek, J. Tomlinson, J. Wilson-Bareau, M.B. Mena Marqués, et al, Goya: Order & Disorder, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2014, p. 297.