- Cronología
- Ca. 1797 - 1798
- Ubicación
- The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Dimensiones
- 199 x 140 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Documented work
- Titular
- El Prado National Museum
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 13 Sep 2022 / 27 Jun 2023
- Inventario
- D3938
On the origin of this and other preparatory drawings for The Caprices, see the commentary on the first of them, corresponding to Caprice number 1 (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, painter), and on the one corresponding to Caprice 3 (The bogeyman is Coming).
Line of provenance of this drawing: Javier Goya; Mariano Goya, 1854; Valentín Carderera, ca. 1861; Mariano Carderera, 1880; Prado Museum, 1886.
Preparatory drawing for Caprice 55. Until Death.
According to Matilla, the old woman's vanity and coquetry lead her to adorn herself with a fashionable ribbon headdress called "caramba" in memory of its creator, the actress María Antonia la Caramba. Goya took particular care to depict realistically an ugly, toothless, wrinkled face, which in the print is transformed into a caricature. The meaning of the work, after a superficial laughter provoked by her comical appearance, turns into a tragic reflection: a woman forced to maintain her beauty permanently in a world dominated by convention and male demands, which does not accept old age and ugliness in her gender.
The pyramid-shaped composition of four characters is reproduced without variations in the etching.
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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. 168
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Madrid2007cat. 17
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Madrid2019cat. 246
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Roma D.Anderson: Editeur1908p. 29, n. 55
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Los Caprichos de Goya y sus dibujos preparatoriosBarcelonaInstituto Amatller de Arte Hispánico1949p. 92
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Goya’s Caprichos. Beauty, Reason and CaricatureNueva JerseyPrinceton University Press1953p. 204, fig.198
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MadridMuseo del Prado1954n. 54
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p. 182, nº 562
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Dibujos de Goya, 2 volsBarcelonaNoguer1975p. 149
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Los Caprichos de Goyacol. Serie punto y líneaBarcelonaGustavo Gili1977p. 45
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El mundo de Goya en sus dibujosMadridUrbión1979pp. 95-96
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MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando1992pp. 276-277
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MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado1999p. 291
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MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado2019p. 361
