- Cronología
- Ca. 1797 - 1799
- Dimensiones
- 215 x 150 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Etching and burnished aquatint
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Undisputed work
- Titular
- Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 09 Nov 2010 / 29 May 2024
- Inventario
- 225
Yes pronounce and hand out to the first comer (at the bottom)
P.2 (in the upper right corner)
A young woman, whose face is covered with a black mask on the front and a dog or rat mask on the back, marries a man much older than herself. She offers him one hand, while hiding the other behind her body. Behind her, we see two old women with deformed faces and, in the background of the scene, various figures with exaggerated gestures attending the scene. High in the centre of the picture, although slightly offset towards the background, the painter has depicted a man wearing a hat with a caricatured, almost animal-like face.
The lines of the engraving have a deep bite and in the fine-grained aquatint varnish reserves have been made to obtain a greater contrast between the white of the simian profile of the woman behind the young woman and the girl's chest with the malicious expression of the bridegroom. The use of the burnisher favours the insinuation of the female forms beneath the dress.
Contemporary manuscripts explain this scene; the one in the Prado Museum states that this image represents "the ease with which many women lend themselves to marriage in the hope of living more freely in it", while the one in the National Library notes that "marriages are regularly performed blindly: the brides, trained by their parents, mask themselves and dress up to deceive the first man who arrives. This is a princess with a mask, who is then to be a bitch with her vassals, as indicated by the back of her face imitating a hairstyle: the foolish people applaud these liaisons; and behind comes praying a liar in priestly attire for the happiness of the nation". Finally, Ayala's manuscript states that with this image Goya "reprimands blind marriages, like those of princesses and chambermaids".
For this Caprice, Goya must have been inspired by some verses written by his learned friend Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (Gijón, 1744-Puerto de Vega, Navia, 1811), the so-called satires A Arnesto, which were first published in El censor (1786). Alcinda, a young woman belonging to high society, marries the first suitor who presents himself to her, possibly with the intention of leaving home. The future husband is encouraged by the economic prosperity that this marriage will bring him. Goya has captured the part of Jovellanos's poem in which he says: "El sí pronuncian y la mano alargan/ Al primero que llega! What a lot of evils/ This damned blindness does not abort! In addition, in the background of the engraving are the characters attending the scene "Al pie del altar, y en el tumulto/ Brindis y vivas de la tornaboda" (At the foot of the altar, and in the tumult/ Toasts and cheers of the wedding). This marriage is celebrated with the imminent threat of infidelity, as Jovellanos points out: "El velo conyugal, y que corriendo/ Con la imprudente frente levantada. Va el adulterio de una casa a otra" (Adultery goes from one house to another). Betrayal is symbolised in the print by the double mask which, on the back, has the face of a dog or rat and alludes to the true character of the young woman who will find complicity in the deception in the woman with the simian face behind her. In Goyaesque iconography, the mask is often an element which, far from concealing, reveals the character's true identity and gives us an idea of her real personality.
The theme of unequal marriages or marriages of convenience is dealt with by Goya in other engravings in The Caprices, such as No. 14, What a Sacrifice, No. 57, Filiation, and No. 75, There's No One to Untie Us.
The aquatint of the plate, which is preserved in the National Chalcography (no. 173), is somewhat weakened.
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Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. TapisserienKunsthalle BaselBasle1953from January 23th to April 12th 1953cat. 194
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De grafiek van GoyaRijksmuseum RijksprentenkabinetAmsterdam1970from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971cat. 13
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Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)Hamburger KunsthalleHamburg1980cat. 22
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Goya. La década de Los CaprichosMadrid1992organized 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 1993cat. 9
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Francisco de GoyaMuseo d'Arte ModernaLugano1996exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.cat. 2, p.2
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Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996Galerie KornfeldBern1996from November 21st 1996 to January 1997cat. 8
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Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerraSan Donato Milanese2000Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzottacat.2, p.16
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Goya. La imagen de la mujerMuseo Nacional del PradoMadrid2001from 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 Serrallercat. 93
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Goya e la tradizione italianaFondazione Magnani RoccaMamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)2006consultant editors Fred Licht and Simona Tosini Pizzetti. From September 9th to December 3th 2006cat. 2, p.146
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Goya. Opera graficaPinacoteca del Castello di San GiorgioLegnano2006exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007p.22
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Goya et la modernitéPinacothèque de ParisParís2013from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014cat. 130
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Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794Museo Nacional del PradoMadrid2014p. 152
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Goya: Order and disorderMuseum of Fine ArtsBoston2014p. 140
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Madrid2017
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Hamburg2019cat. 34
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2022
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Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.OxfordBruno Cassirer1964cat. 37, p.72
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p.176, cat. 454
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La década de los Caprichos. Retratos 1792-1804MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando1992cat. 9, p. 16
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Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturasMadridMuseo del Prado1993pp.45-47, fig. 21
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Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalMadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional1996cat. 89, p.74
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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 ediciónMadridMuseo Nacional del Prado1999pp.64-67
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Goya, la imagen de la mujerMadridMuseo Nacional del Prado y Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado2001p.90
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ParísPinacoteca de París2013p. 191
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Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado2014p. 152
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Goya: Order & DisorderBostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications2014p. 140
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Goya. In the Norton Simon MuseumPasadenaNorton Simon Museum2016pp. 42-75
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ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón y Fundación Bancaria Ibercaja2017p. 172
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HamburgHirmer2019p. 244
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Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz2022p. 29