Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
210 x 166 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching, aquatint and burin
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
28 Oct 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Ensayos. (at the bottom)

60. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Goya (signature in the bottom left-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

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

Análisis artístico

A naked witch teaches her disciple, a man who is also unclothed, to rise into the air. To do so, she holds him by one ear and pulls on it, while the man holds on to the witch's head with one arm. The scene is witnessed by a billy goat who looks on majestically from the background, as well as by a cat standing in front of them and observing the spectator, very close to which is another feline walking towards the background. Next to the cat are a jug, a skull and two spindles, similar to those used by the witches in Caprice no. 44, Thin Spindle.

Compared to other engravings in the series, Goya gives a preponderance to etching over aquatint. He accurately depicts the anatomies of the figures, as well as the two animals. He constructs the upper part of the sky with short, very continuous horizontal strokes.

The manuscript in the Prado Museum explains this engraving as follows: "Little by little he is getting ahead of himself, he is already making his first steps and in time he will know more than the master". The manuscript of the National Library tells us about this print: "Leaving the labours of sex; continually scolding married people; stealing and always being like cats, are trials and beginnings of cabronería".

Goya creates an image intended to satirise the practices of witchcraft, as he has done on other occasions throughout the series of The Caprices. The billy goat has important analogies with the one in the work Aquelarre, which the Aragonese painter produced as part of the series of small paintings commissioned by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna to decorate their country house called The Caprice.

Although the subject of witches was a fashionable one in the late 18th century, especially among aristocrats, Goya used these characters to criticise certain human vices.

Conservación

The plate is in rather poor condition, with the aquatint very worn (National Chalcography, no. 231).

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 e Italia
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    2008
    organized by the Fundación Goya en Aragóna, consultant editor Joan Sureda Pons. From June 1st to September 15th 2008
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Agen
    2019
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    pp.137, cat. 95
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.183, cat. 571
  • GUARDIA PONS, Milagros
    El gran cabrón del aquelarre en Goya
    Boletín del Museo e Instituto "Camón Aznar"
    ZaragozaIbercaja
    1981
    pp.23-37
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.43-45, cat. 26-27
  • MENA, Manuela B. y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1993
    p.213, fig. 149
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.105, cat. 150
  • 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.310-313
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 265
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 254
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • MOTTIN, Bruno, EFEDAQUE, Adrien and WILSON-BAREU, Juliet
    AgenSnoeck
    2019
    p. 137
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 46
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