Francisco de Goya

Wait to be smeared

Clasificación
Wait to be smeared
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
218 x 153 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
09 Jan 2011 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Aguarda que te unten (at the bottom)

 67. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

A pre-print proof with burnished aquatint and drypoint is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.

A preparatory drawing of this engraving is in the Prado Museum.

Análisis artístico

An old naked sorcerer with a monstrous face and animal ears applies an ointment to a character with a brush. Thanks to this substance, the latter has become a billy goat trying to take flight. However, there is still something human about him: the leg by which the sorcerer grabs him, where he has not yet spread the potion. Next to them stands a one-eyed woman with a one-eyed body and a worn face, who watches the scene attentively.

With the burnisher Goya has created a large triangle of light behind the figures, above which is another half-tone triangle. The bodies of the figures, especially that of the goat about to take flight, and the ground on the left side of the print, are rendered with precision in etching.

In the Ayala manuscript the engraving is explained as an Extreme-Unction, while in the Prado manuscript a more detailed interpretation is given: "They send him on an important errand and he wants to leave half smeared; among the witches there are also trunks, hasty, boastful, without a shred of judgement; everyone is a country". Finally, the manuscript of the National Library gives us the following description of the print: "With the spread of ignorance and clumsiness, men become bastards in the end". (The Extreme-Unction).

It is possible that one of Goya's sources of inspiration for this engraving was the Tragicomedy of Lysander and Rosalia or Second Celestina (1534) by Feliciano de Silva (Ciudad Rodrigo, 1482/1492-1554). This theme also appears in the Auto de fe held in the city of Logroño on 6 and 7 November 1610.

As in many other scenes of witchcraft in the Caprices series, in this print the dreamlike prevails over the critical content. Goya has taken great care with the composition and has recreated the faces of the characters, especially the one in the foreground, to provide us with a surprising image drawn from his fantasy. It looks more like a Goyaesque amusement than an image intended for censorship.

Conservación

The plate is in rather poor condition, with the aquatint very worn (National Chalcography, no. 238).

Exposiciones
  • 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
  • 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 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.144, cat. 102
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.183, cat. 585
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.108-109, cat. 64
  • MENA, Manuela B. y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1993
    pp.213-214, fig. 154
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.110, cat. 159
  • 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.338-341
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 235
  • 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. 48
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