Francisco de Goya

God forgive her: And she was his mother

Clasificación
God forgive her: And she was his mother
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
202 x 151 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
25 Nov 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

God forgive her: And she was his mother (at the bottom)

16. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

There is a state test that has a handwritten inscription that reads: Forgive me for God's sake and it was his mother. Other state proofs were made, in the title of which, instead of a colon between the two sentences, there is only a dot.

We can consider drawing no. 6 from Album B, as well as Dream no. 20, as previous works for the production of this print.

Análisis artístico

In the centre of the engraving, a young woman holds a half-open fan in one of her hands and gazes at it with a haughty gesture. Next to her is a female figure who is covered, with only the top of her head uncovered. The young woman does not seem to recognise the woman who has approached her.

The engraving has been briefly described in the surviving manuscripts of the Caprices series. In the Ayala manuscript it is said that "there are daughters who do not even know their mothers, who go about begging for alms". The manuscript in the Prado Museum explains that "she won the lottery. She goes down to the Prado, hears a filthy, decrepit old woman begging for alms, she bids her farewell; the old woman urges her to turn around and finds - who would have thought it - that the poor woman is her mother". Lastly, reference should be made to the manuscript in the National Library, which states that "a vicious daughter who becomes a whore does not even know her mother, who is perhaps begging for alms".

This engraving criticises a circumstance that frequently occurred in the society of the time, that of those young women who, thanks to prostitution, were able to leave the environments they came from and achieve a more comfortable economic situation. In some cases, they seemed to have forgotten their origins, as in the present engraving in which the young woman does not realise that it is her own mother who approaches her to beg for alms.

Some specialists, including Enrique Lafuente Ferrari, believe that the woman who approaches the young woman could be a procuress, as in certain cases prostitutes called them "mother".

Conservación

The plate is preserved in the National Chalcography (no. 187).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • De grafiek van Goya
    Rijksmuseum Rijksprentenkabinet
    Amsterdam
    1970
    from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971
  • Goya dans les collections suisses
    Fundación Pierre Gianadda
    Martigny
    1982
    consultant editor Pierre Gassier. From June 12th to August 29th 1982
  • 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.
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • 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
  • Goya. La imagen de la mujer
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2001
    from October 30th 2001 to February 10th 2002. Exhibitied also at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, March 10th to June 2nd 2002, consultant editor Francisco Calvo Serraller
  • 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
  • Hamburg
    2019
  • Expérience Goya
    Lille
    2021
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.86, cat. 51
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.178, cat. 483
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.125-129, cat. 74-76
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.82, cat. 104
  • 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
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    1999
    pp.124-127
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 247
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • TACK, Ifee and PISOT, Sandra
    Bibliography']['number
    HamburgHirmer
    2019
    p. 251
  • COTENTIN, Régis
    Expérience Goya (cat. expo)
    Bibliography']['number
    LilleRéunion des Musées Nationaux
    2021
    p. 89
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Bibliography']['number
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 34
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