Francisco de Goya

A charlatan's charade

Clasificación
A charlatan's charade
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1820 - 1823
Dimensiones
177 x 222 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta o lavis, punta seca y buril
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
28 Feb 2013 / 05 Jun 2023
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

75 (in the top left-hand corner)

Historia

See Sad forebodings of what is to come.

The title of the print was handwritten by Goya on the first and only series known to us at the time of its production, which the painter gave to his friend Agustín Ceán Bermúdez. Thus the title was subsequently engraved on the plate without any modification from Ceán Bermúdez's copy for the first edition of the Disasters of War published by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid in 1863.

A preparatory drawing of this engraving is in the Prado Museum

Análisis artístico

The centre of the print is occupied by a figure with the head of a bird of prey or parrot wearing a tunic and stretching out his arms. Behind him are many other figures with caricatured features that could be wearing a mask; in some cases they are animals such as an ass, a wild boar or a dog.

For Jesusa Vega, this work can be considered an eccentricity by Goya that could be related to the events that took place in Valencia in May 1814. It was then that the president of the regency of Cadiz, Cardinal Luis María de Borbón y Vallabriga (Cadalso de Vidrios, 1777-Madrid, 1823), who was a supporter of the liberals, went out to receive Ferdinand VII, whom he had orders not to recognise as king until he had sworn in the Constitution. However, when the king met the cardinal, he held out his hand and the latter kissed it in a clear gesture of submission. The historian believes that this print also contains the so-called Persians Manifesto, a document signed in Madrid on 12 April 1814 by 69 deputies, led by Bernardo Mozo de Rosales (Seville, 1762-Agen, 1832). Essentially it called for the return of Ferdinand VII to power, the return of the Ancien Régime and the abolition of the legislation of the Cadiz Cortes. Thus the central figure could be an allusion to the monarch while all the grotesque characters surrounding him would be those who form his court of sycophants, those who demand his return to power.

For Nigel Glendinning the source of inspiration is, as in many other engravings in the Emphatic Caprices, the work of Giambattista Casti (Viterbo or Acquapendente, 1724-Paris, 1803) Gli animali parlanti (1801). Thus the whole group of extravagant characters, sometimes hybrid beings, would be the clique that surrounded Ferdinand VII.

Conservación

The plate is in the National Chalcography (cat. 326).

Exposiciones
  • Goya and his times
    The Royal Academy of Arts
    London
    1963
    cat. 66
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • Francisco de Goya
    Museo d'Arte Moderna
    Lugano
    1996
    exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.
  • 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
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Madrid
    2017
Bibliografía
  • BERUETE Y MONET, Aureliano de
    Goya, grabador
    MadridBlass S.A.
    1918
    cat. 177
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    cat. 195
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    cat. 1124
  • PAZ, Alfredo de
    Goya. Arte e condizione umana
    NaplesLiguori editore
    1990
    lam. 210
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 297
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 157
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 114-151
  • CALVO RUATA, José Ignacio, BORRÁS GUALIS, Gonzalo M. and MARTÍNEZ HERRANZ, Amparo
    ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón y Fundación Bancaria Ibercaja
    2017
    p. 206
Enlaces externos
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