Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
208 x 152 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and burnished aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
19 Dec 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Mucho hay que chupar. (at the bottom)

45. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

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

Análisis artístico

A group of three witches, or alcahuetas, are resting while drinking snuff, a preparation made from tobacco which, after being flavoured, was consumed through the nose. They are seated on the floor and are dressed in large robes that cover their heads in the case of the two in the foreground. Their weathered and aged faces have deformed, almost caricatured features and their hands are bony, ending in long nails. In the background we can see two bats taking flight and, on the front of the engraving, Goya has painted a basket full of children's bodies.

The artist used a medium-grain aquatint that contrasts with the white areas of the two figures in the centre and the children in the basket.

In Ayala's manuscript we are told the following about this engraving: "It seems that man is born and lives to be sucked. The ruffians keep a good account of the baskets of children, which are made by their means, or are disgraced with their abortifacients". This idea is reiterated in two other manuscripts, in the Prado Museum and the Biblioteca Nacional, in which the dedication of these three characters to abortive practices is noted.

This engraving should be related to the previous one, No. 44, Thin spindle, in which the painter depicted three women who could be witches or procuresses who also performed abortions, as can be seen from the presence of the bodies of children, perhaps foetuses, hanging from the ceiling.

Conservación

The plate suffered a scratch at the height of the figure in the background by accident during printing, which is not noticed in the first printings made with this copper ( National Chalcography, no. 216).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • Goya dans les collections suisses
    Fundación Pierre Gianadda
    Martigny
    1982
    consultant editor Pierre Gassier. From June 12th to August 29th 1982
  • 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
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • 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
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.118, cat. 80
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.181, cat. 541
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.94-95, cat. 56
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.97, cat. 134
  • 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.240-245
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 222
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
Enlaces externos
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