Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter

The term capriccio was used by Jacques Callot (Nancy, 1592-1635) to designate a series of engravings produced in 1617 that preceded his series Les Misères et les Malheurs de la guerre (1733). This work was well known to Goya, as he was inspired by it in his Disasters of War. Later, the term Capriccio - which, practically speaking, designates an artistic genre - was used by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Venice, 1696-Madrid, 1770) for his series of etchings, Capricci, which was published around 1743. The common denominator in these images is the fantasy that unfolds freely in the prints and in which the figures and settings are the fruit of associations dictated by criteria derived from the imagination. In 1756 Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Mogliano Veneto, Treviso, 1720-Rome, 1778) also published a series of engravings entitled Capricci decorativi romani, in which he created views of the eternal city that were the result of the fusion of elements from reality and fantasy.

Goya, who must have been very familiar with these artistic precedents by virtue of his stay in Rome (1769-1771), made his first approach to capriccio in the cabinet paintings he produced while recovering from the serious illness he suffered in 1793.

In these works, as Goya himself remarked, he was able to allow himself to "make observations that are not usually found in commissioned works, in which caprice and invention have no scope". It was in this process of discovering creative freedom, which brought Goya closer to the Romantic artist, that the series of engravings The Caprices was born, in which he censured various aspects of the society of his time.

The engravings in this series are a critique of superstition and witchcraft, themes he had already tackled in his paintings for the Dukes of Osuna, the life of certain sectors of the Church, prostitution, the proliferation of unequal marriages, the education of children and the Inquisition, all from an Enlightenment point of view. It is a work that censures human vices and weaknesses with sarcastic, acid and sometimes fanciful language. Goya also avoided personal references in most cases, aware of the risk that this could entail, especially in his capacity as a painter for the camera.

There is no structure to provide an order to the prints in the series of The Caprices, , but rather the themes are approached spontaneously, according to the painter's ideas and criteria. However, we note a more realistic tone in the first half of The Caprices, while in the second half Goya adopts a more fanciful language that sometimes verges on the absurd. In this second part, the painter frequently uses monstrous and deformed beings that provoke hilarity and at the same time invite bitter reflection. In some cases it is possible to establish formal and thematic links between several engravings which serve the artist to reiterate certain ideas. Thus, the first part of the series could be interpreted as erotic satire, while a second group of prints deals with social conventions. There is also a group of prints in which, with a certain continuity, the theme of witchcraft and superstition is dealt with. In addition, between engravings 37 and 42 of the series there are what have been called asnerías, prints featuring donkeys in which human stupidity and ignorance are criticised.

The titles of each of the engravings, aphorisms that follow in the footsteps of those of Baltasar Gracián (Belmonte de Gracián, Calatayud, 1601-Tarazona, 1658), are indispensable for a proper interpretation of the images. They are brief, sometimes almost cutting titles that provide a first reading of the engraving and often contain a second interpretation in which the criticism that Goya unfolds before our eyes is condensed. In many cases, however, the title is not enough to grasp the deeper meaning of the prints and it is necessary to turn to the contemporary manuscripts in which the prints are analysed. The most relevant, and the ones to which we will refer in most cases, are the Ayala manuscript, in which the satires of the Goyaesque images are frequently personalised, and the Prado Museum manuscript. The latter begins with the phrase This explanation of Goya's Caprices is written by his own hand, although there are serious doubts as to whether it was the painter who actually wrote it. A careful study of both leads us to the conclusion that there is a link between the two, since the explanations of 30 of the engravings in the series share explanations or expressions in which the variations are really minimal, so that it could be thought that one was inspired by the other. Finally, in many cases we will resort to the interpretation of the prints provided by the so-called manuscript of the National Library.

Goya produced the prints of the Caprices by working the plates with etching, which he then toned with aquatint and finally perfected with dry retouches with drypoint and burin. He did not draw directly on the plate in the manner of other artists such as Rembrandt (Leiden, 1606-Amsterdam, 1669), by whom Goya owned a number of prints, and he made preparatory drawings for almost all the prints in the series. The sketches are careful, sometimes extremely precise, to the point that the painter was obliged to lighten them in some cases in order to simplify the work on the copper. In this series the painter shows greater skill than in his copies of Velázquez's paintings, a greater knowledge of the technique and seems to feel freer, which could also be due to the private nature of this work.

There are many sources of inspiration, both literary and formal, and these will be analysed in the corresponding files on each of the prints in this series. In any case, it should be pointed out that, in general terms, The Caprices, owing to their highly critical content, can be related to English satirical prints, especially some works by William Hogarth (London, 1697-1764). Although Hogarth's work was not particularly widespread in Spain, Goya may have been aware of it thanks to the collection of this artist owned by Luis Paret y Alcázar (Madrid, 1746-1799, Madrid), Sebastián Martínez and even the Duke and Duchess of Osuna. It is also likely that his friend the learned Leandro Fernández de Moratín (Madrid, 1760-Paris, 1828) brought him some satirical prints after his return from London.

The first of the The Caprices prints was conceived by Goya as a frontispiece for the collection. The concept, intention and dimensions are different from those of the other prints, and it is the only one that lacks a commentary in the Prado manuscript, which only states "portrait of the author". However, in the Ayala manuscript it says "true portrait of him, with a satirical gesture" and in the National Library manuscript it says "true portrait of him, in a bad mood, and with a satirical gesture".

In this image, Goya is about fifty years old and is portraying himself in profile, with a serene expression, a grim gesture and a sharp gaze that is in keeping with the satirical gesture noted in the Ayala manuscript and in the National Library manuscript. The character in this engraving is the fine observer who will unfold before our eyes the social and political panorama of his time from the perspective of sarcasm and irony.