Francisco de Goya

Hunting for teeth

Clasificación
Hunting for teeth
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
219 x 153 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta bruñida y buril
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
23 Nov 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

A caza de dientes. (in the lower part)

12. (in the upper right corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

A first state proof is preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in which the burnishing of the aquatint is incomplete.

The only known state proof is in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, where the title On the hunt for molars  appears in pen-and-ink manuscript.

The preparatory drawing for this engraving is in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Análisis artístico

In the centre of the composition is a man who has just been hanged, hanging handcuffed by a rope. In front of him, a young woman covers her face with a handkerchief in a gesture of horror, while she puts her hand in his mouth and tries to pull out his teeth.

The scene is very dark, so it would seem to be an event that is taking place at night. Goya has applied aquatint profusely over the entire surface of the background and has left the upper part of the hanged man's body and his face blank, as well as the young woman's handkerchief and her hand, with which she pulls his teeth out of his mouth.

This engraving is explained in the three manuscripts of which we are aware. In the Ayala manuscript it is said that "the hanged man's teeth are very effective for spells, what a woman in love is capable of! The one in the Prado Museum  points out that "the teeth of hanged men are very effective for spells; without this ingredient nothing useful can be done. It is a pity that the vulgar believe such nonsense". Finally, the meaning of this print is referred to in the manuscript of the National Library: "To get her own way, especially if she is in love, she is capable of pulling out the teeth of a hanged man".

In this engraving, Goya censures the superstition that prompted the young woman to try to extract the corpse's teeth because it was popularly believed that they were useful for love spells. He depicts the scene in an unvarnished, frontal manner, capturing the gruesomeness of the act. This kind of superstition is also reflected in Act VII of the Tragicomedy of Calixto and Melibea, specifically when Celestina tells Parmeno's mother: "Seven teeth he took out of a hanged man with a pair of eyebrow pliers, while I took off his shoes".

Episodes of this nature were also recorded by Leandro Fernández de Moratín (Madrid, 1760-Paris, 1828) in the Inquisition's Auto of Faith on witchcraft held in Logroño in 1610. This work must have been well known to Francisco de Goya, as it had been one of the sources of inspiration for his painting Aquelarre, painted for the Duke and Duchess of Osuna. Moreover, this literary work was in the aristocrats' library, according to the inventory made of it in 1823.

Conservación

The plate is in poor condition ( National Chalcography, no. 183).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • El arte de Goya
    Museo de Arte Occidental de Tokio
    Tokyo
    1971
    from 16th 1971 to January 23th 1972. Exhibited also at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, January 29th to March 15th 1972.
  • Goya. La década de Los Caprichos
    Madrid
    1992
    organized by Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando sponsored by Fundación Central Hispano, Madrid, consultant editor Nigel Glendinnig. From October 26th 1992 to January 10th 1993
  • Goya
    Nationalmuseum
    Stockholm
    1994
    consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995
  • Francisco de Goya
    Museo d'Arte Moderna
    Lugano
    1996
    exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.
  • Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996
    Galerie Kornfeld
    Bern
    1996
    from November 21st 1996 to January 1997
  • Goya artista de su tiempo y Goya artista único
    The National Museum of Western Art
    Tokyo
    1999
    from December 1st to July 3th 1999
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • Goya e la tradizione italiana
    Fondazione Magnani Rocca
    Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
    2006
    consultant editors Fred Licht and Simona Tosini Pizzetti. From September 9th to December 3th 2006
  • Goya. Opera grafica
    Pinacoteca del Castello di San Giorgio
    Legnano
    2006
    exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.82, cat. 46
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.177, cat. 474
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.84-86, cat. 50-51
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.80, cat. 100
  • BLAS BENITO, Javier, MATILLA RODRÍGUEZ, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    El libro de los caprichos: dos siglos de interpretaciones (1799-1999). Catálogo de los dibujos, pruebas de estado, láminas de cobre y estampas de la primera edición
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    1999
    pp.106-109
  • LÓPEZ VÁZQUEZ, José Manuel
    Bellacos, lisonjeros y amigos de mesa defraudadores de la verdad. Caprichos 11, 12 y 13,
    Boletín de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    2001
    pp.45-65
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 215
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 33
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