Of everything

On the probable advice of Goya's academic friends, this preparatory drawing for the Capriches was neither engraved nor included in the edition of the Capriches , as it could be interpreted as a direct attack on a particular person.

The main figure in the composition, with the body of an ass, human arms and the face of a sheep, is seated drawing on a table with the aid of a compass and palette, while turning his head towards three gawping admirers. In the background on the left is a bookcase full of volumes.

On the other side of the paper Goya drew the same scene in reverse, including a wig on the head of the protagonist in the form of an ass's ears. In the drawing on the reverse, entitled The Pedant, the painter added a lyre at the scholar's feet, which was not included in the drawing on the front and which could symbolise a satire on the pedants who know everything. The bookshop has been replaced by what appears to be an audience attending the lectures of this curious professor.

Both drawings could be related to Caprice 39. Even His Grandfather, which shows a donkey sitting in front of a table with a book between his hooves, and to earlier variants of the same painting such as Dream 26: The Literary Donkey and Masks of B. There are also masks of literary donkeys.