- Cronología
- Ca. 1797 - 1799
- Dimensiones
- 217 x 152 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Aguafuerte, aguatinta bruñida y punta seca
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Undisputed work
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 13 Jan 2011 / 29 May 2024
- Inventario
- 225
¿Està Vmd...pues, Como dígo...eh! Cuidado! si nó... (at the bottom)
76. (in the upper right-hand corner)
See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.
There is a state proof with burnished aquatint that was auctioned at the Hotel Drouot in Paris in 1957, on which the following caption appears: Do you understand it?
A preparatory drawing is kept in the Prado National Museum.
On the left side of the picture is a mutilated man leaning on his crutches, listening attentively to the bravado of an old general. He is dressed in uniform, holding a baton in his left hand and displaying an officer's badge in the palm of his right hand. Behind him, a man who covers his mouth to hide his laughter and another with angular features and a wide-brimmed hat observe the ridiculous soldier.
The Aragonese painter used a single fine-grained aquatint that contrasts with the whites achieved through the varnish reserves in the first prints. This effect gradually faded, as did the application of the burnisher on the figures. In the upper right corner there is a defect which Goya tried to conceal with the drypoint and which will become increasingly visible as the intensity of the aquatint weakens.
The manuscript in the Prado's Museo Nacional del Prado comments on this engraving: "The cockade and the cane make him believe that he is of a superior nature and abuses the command entrusted to him to annoy all those who know him, arrogant, insolent and vain with those who are inferior, dejected and vile with those who can do more than he can". Ayala's manuscript and that of the Biblioteca Nacional coincide in the same explanation: "The swollen soldiers, full of gout and filly, throw brabatas to the crippled, since they did not throw them to their enemies".
It is possible that the figure in the print is the artillery general Tomás de Morla y Pacheco (Jerez de la Frontera, 1748-Madrid, 1812). He was known not so much for his bravery and military merits as for his verbal incontinence. Tomás de Morla enjoyed the sympathy and protection of Manuel Godoy and it was he who surrendered Madrid to Napoleon.
The plate is in rather poor condition is preserved in the (National Chalcography no. 247).
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Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. TapisserienKunsthalle BaselBasle1953from January 23th to April 12th 1953cat. 254
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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. 116
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GoyaNationalmuseumStockholm1994consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995cat. 73
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Francisco de GoyaMuseo d'Arte ModernaLugano1996exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.cat. 76, p.103
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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. 82
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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. 76, p.164
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Goya. Opera graficaPinacoteca del Castello di San GiorgioLegnano2006exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007p.43
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Goya et la modernitéPinacothèque de ParisParís2013from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014cat. 175
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Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.OxfordBruno Cassirer1964p.154, cat. 111
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p.185, cat. 605
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Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertesMadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando1992pp.196-197, cat. 116
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Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalMadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional1996p.114, cat. 168
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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.376-379
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ParísPinacoteca de París2013p. 240
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Goya. In the Norton Simon MuseumPasadenaNorton Simon Museum2016pp. 42-75