Francisco de Goya

Where is mum going?

Clasificación
Where is mum going?
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
210 x 162 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta y punta seca
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
09 Jan 2011 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Donde vá mamà? (at the bottom)

65. (in the upper right-hand corner)

 Goya (signed in the bottom left-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

There is a proof before the letter with aquatint and drypoint in the National Library of Madrid. Other state proofs are also known in which the title ends in a full stop instead of a question mark and the word "mamà" is unaccented.

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

Análisis artístico

A naked, obese witch is leaning on a figure who seems to be making great efforts to support her on her back. The figure has his legs spread and bent and his arms at shoulder height, with which he is holding onto the woman's feet. Next to her are two other figures who are also holding her; the one on the left is mocking her and the one on the right is sucking on one of her breasts. The whole group is supported by an owl with its wings spread in flight, while a cat in the air clings to an open umbrella. In the background, in the lower left corner, Goya has depicted a small village with houses.

The print was executed with a single, very fine-grained aquatint. In addition, Goya has made an insistent use of etching to create the sky, using very close horizontal lines to suggest the clouds in the upper left corner. He also used etching to define the figures in detail, focusing on their anatomies, which he describes in minute detail.

The manuscripts describing the Caprices series are rather sparing with regard to this print. The Prado and Ayala manuscripts both say the same thing: "Madame is hydropic and he sends her for a walk. God willing she will be relieved". The manuscript in the Biblioteca Nacional notes the following: "Lasciviousness and drunkenness in women bring with them infinite disorders and real witchcraft".

It is possible that this print is a dreamlike vision created by Goya in which he did not intend to make a criticism, but simply to offer us a fantastic image in which he has stopped to create a complex and bizarre composition. It is therefore a capriccio in the strict sense of the word, an image obtained from strange associations born of the imagination.

Conservación

The plate is in rather poor condition, with the aquatint very worn (National Chalcography, no. 236).

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.
  • 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 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. 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 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.142, cat. 100
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.183, cat. 581
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.50-51, cat. 31
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.108, cat. 155-156
  • 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.330-333
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 233
  • 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. 47
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