Francisco de Goya

What a tailor can do!

Clasificación
What a tailor can do!
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
218 x 151 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta bruñida, punta seca y buril
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
21 Dec 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Lo que puede un Sastre! (at the bottom)

52. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

In the first printings, the exclamation mark in the title does not appear, which was later corrected.

The proof bears two handwritten numbers, 2 and 52, which could correspond to the hypothetical arrangement that Goya considered for this print.

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

Análisis artístico

A crowd kneels before a rickety tree covered with a monk's habit that looks like a gigantic puppet raising its arms. In the foreground a young girl is shown in adoration, the child behind her seems to be afraid, while others are praying and, in some cases, we see faces expressing withdrawal or indifference. In the sky, in the background, a group of witches can be seen flying.

This print can be read in two ways, in which the unifying element is appearance. On the one hand, it is a criticism of superstition, as can be seen in the manuscripts of Ayala and the National Library. However, the Prado Museum manuscript provides a second guideline for the interpretation of the engraving: "How often a ridiculous bug is suddenly transformed into a phantom that is nothing and appears to be a lot! So much can be the skill of a tailor and the foolishness of those who judge things by what they seem". In short, Goya censures those who rely on appearances without going into depth.

The Aragonese painter tackled this theme once again in engravings 66, Strange Devotion! and 67 This is No Less from the series The Disasters of War, in which he criticised the superciliousness and those who use sacred images to exalt their own image, to obtain a dimension and social projection which they do not really have.

A close analysis of the preparatory drawing for the engraving reveals modifications to the engraving designed to make the message of the print less obvious. Thus the artist concealed the clear reference to the monk by adding a topknot to the hood of the habit, which makes it look like a tied sack. He also sketched the witches flying in the sky that he developed in the print. In this way, the anti-clerical criticism is camouflaged under a scene of witchcraft.

One of the possible visual sources Goya could have drawn on for this image is the painting by Pierre Subleyras (Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, 1699-Rome, 1749) Charon Passing the Shadows (ca. 1735, Musée du Louvre, Paris), in which the Frenchman creates the spectral figures by means of an excellent panneggio work.

Conservación

The plate is in rather poor condition, with the aquatint very worn (National Chalcography, no. 223).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • De grafiek van Goya
    Rijksmuseum Rijksprentenkabinet
    Amsterdam
    1970
    from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • 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
  • 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 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 et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Madrid
    2017
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.125, cat. 87
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.182, cat. 555
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.87-90, cat. 52-54
  • MENA, Manuela B. y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1993
    p.46, fig. 19
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.101, cat. 141
  • 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.278-281
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 225
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 255
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • CALVO RUATA, José Ignacio, BORRÁS GUALIS, Gonzalo M. and MARTÍNEZ HERRANZ, Amparo
    ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón y Fundación Bancaria Ibercaja
    2017
    p. 188
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 44
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