Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
217 x 152 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta bruñida, punta seca y buril
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
12 Jan 2011 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Mejor es holgar. (at the bottom)

73. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

A proof of its condition prior to the drypoint is preserved in the Prado Museum. The title is the same as the one written by hand on the final print, although Goya thought of an earlier one that has been crossed out: que te cansas?

Análisis artístico

A young woman with her feet apart stands in front of a toothless old man with a prominent chin who is seated on a large sack. The young woman holds a ball of wool in her hands and rests it on her lap in a gesture that has clearly erotic connotations. Between the two, in the background, there is an old woman seated between them, holding a skein of yarn, which could be suggesting the relationship between the man and the young woman.

Ayala's manuscript explains this engraving as follows: "Women want more to lie down at the bribia, than to unravel skeins and work at home", while that in the Prado National Museum notes: "If the one who works is the one who enjoys the least, he is right, it is better to smell". The most detailed explanation is that of the Biblioteca Nacional; in the engraving it is interpreted in these words: "A vicious family is hardly subject to honest home occupations. The husband's beastly husband gets tangled up in the skein; the mother-in-law untangles it and the wife gets tired and shows in her gestures that it is more important for her to go to the rascal".

The content of this engraving is quite clear: it is a criticism of prostitution, to which many women resorted in order to make a living. The old woman in the centre of the composition weaves a link between the two, she is the one who has plotted the origin of this relationship. The young woman will agree to join the man despite his unpleasant appearance for purely economic reasons.

Conservación

The aquatint of this engraving is rather weakened (National Chalcography, no. 244).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • 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 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
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.151, cat. 108
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.184, cat. 599
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.259-261, cat. 157-158
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.113, cat. 165
  • 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.364-367
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 266
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 50
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