Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
214 x 150 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
10 Jan 2011 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Linda maestra! (at the bottom)

68. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Goya (signed in the bottom left-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

A proof of pre-letter condition with burnished aquatint and drypoint is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, with the manuscript title, La Volaron. The first proofs also show the final title with a full stop in place of the exclamation, which gives an ironic sense to the phrase.

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

Análisis artístico

An old witch on a broomstick carries with her a younger witch whom she is teaching to fly. The former is holding on to the pole with both hands and seems to be concentrating, while the younger one is clinging to her teacher's neck, watching a group of people watching the scene from below. All this is taking place under the watchful eye of an owl with its wings outstretched, which the Aragonese painter has depicted in the upper right corner of the engraving.

Goya has lavishly used drypoint and etching to depict the bodies of the two women, painstakingly capturing the aged skin of the old woman in contrast to the smoother, firmer skin of the young woman. He has also worked with precision on the owl observing the scene, the tree in the lower right corner and the figures below watching this flying lesson. In a way, it could be said that the artist has returned to the first engravings of the Caprichos series in which he used a fine-grained aquatint and etching to define the figures well.

Both the Ayala manuscript and the one in the Prado Museum coincide in stressing the importance of the broom used by the witches to fly. In this sense, it is possible that, as with many other prints in the series of The Caprices in which Goya tackles the theme of witchcraft, one of the sources of inspiration was the Auto de fe held in the city of Logroño on 6 and 7 November 1610, in which the practices of the witches were recounted.

On the other hand, a careful reading of the explanation of this engraving in the manuscript in the National Library leads us to believe that this image refers allegorically to prostitution. It reads as follows: "The old women take the broom out of the hands of those with good moustaches; they give them lessons in flying around the world, putting a broomstick between their legs for the first time". In this way, Goya would be referring to the procuresses who introduce some young girls into prostitution through the image of the old women who place a broomstick between their legs, teaching them to fly. This explanation would have to do with the choice of the title of the first state proof, They Flew, which has a clearly sexual connotation. Goya replaced it with the less explicit title by which we know this work.

Conservación

The plate is preserved in the National Chalcography (no. 239).

Exposiciones
  • De grafiek van Goya
    Rijksmuseum Rijksprentenkabinet
    Amsterdam
    1970
    from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971
  • Goya y el espíritu de la Ilustración
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1988
    from October 6th to December 18th 1988. Exhibited also at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 18th to March 26th 1989; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York, May 9th to July 16th 1989, Madrid curator Manuela B. Mena Marqués, scientific directors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Eleanor A. Sayre
  • 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
  • Goya
    Nationalmuseum
    Stockholm
    1994
    consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995
  • 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
  • Goya artista de su tiempo y Goya artista único
    The National Museum of Western Art
    Tokyo
    1999
    from December 1st to July 3th 1999
  • Goya. La imagen de la mujer
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2001
    from October 30th 2001 to February 10th 2002. Exhibitied also at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, March 10th to June 2nd 2002, consultant editor Francisco Calvo Serraller
  • 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
  • London
    2015
  • Zaragoza
    2021
  • Expérience Goya
    Lille
    2021
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.145, cat. 103
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.184, cat. 103
  • GUDIOL, José
    Goya, 1746-1828. Biografía, estudio analítico y catálogo de sus pinturas
    BarcelonaEdiciones Polígrafa s.a.
    1970
    pp.396, fig. 640
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.46-49, cat. 28-30
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.110, cat. 160
  • 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. 342-345
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 236
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B. y MAURER, Gudrun (comisarias)
    Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2014
    p. 302
  • WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet y BUCK, Stephanie (eds.)
    LondonThe Courtauld Gallery
    2015
    p. 136
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • COTENTIN, Régis
    Expérience Goya (cat. expo)
    LilleRéunion des Musées Nationaux
    2021
    p. 121
  • GALLEGO GARCÍA, Raquel (comisaria)
    Goya. Traveler and artist of the Grand Tour (exp. cat.)
    ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón
    2021
    pp. 240-241
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 49
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