Francisco de Goya

There was no remedy

Clasificación
There was no remedy
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
219 x 152 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and burnished aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
30 Nov 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

There was no remedy  (at the bottom)

24. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

We do not know of the existance of a preparatory drawing for this engraving. 

Análisis artístico

In this work, Goya continues with the theme of the Inquisition that he had tackled in No. 23, Those Powders. In the centre, slightly shifted to the right, the prisoner, who in this case appears to be a woman, is on the back of a donkey, with the chorus on his head and his torso bare. His head is held on his chin by a kind of crutch; the expression on his face is crestfallen and defeated. In front of the donkey, a grotesque-looking man pulls on the halter, while another man pushes the animal from behind. In the foreground, a group of men with pointed hats and pigtails lie on top of the prisoner; in the background, two feline-faced bailiffs on horseback with whips in their hands.

The Aragonese painter has used aquatint over the entire plate, although he has left some areas in white that coincide with the donkey and the prisoner on it. In addition to emphasising their prominence in the image, this could be a mechanism for suggesting the figure's innocence.

In Ayala's manuscript, it is stated laconically: "'She was armoured: she was poor and ugly. How could there be any remedy? A somewhat more extensive explanation is given in the manuscript in the Prado Museum, which reads as follows: "This Holy Lady is persecuted by death! After writing her life they bring her out in triumph. She deserves everything, and if they do it to affront her, it is time wasted. No one can be ashamed who has no shame".

As with the previous engraving, it is difficult to establish a clear link between the image and its title. Edith Helman believes that the latter refers to the failed attempts of Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (Gijón, 1744-Puerto de Vega, Navia, 1811) to reform the Inquisition when he was Minister of Grace and Justice, a post he took up in November 1797 and from which he was dismissed in August 1798. The Asturian writer and jurist was against this type of senseless inquisitorial process, based on ignorance and superstition. On 12 April 1799, in his Diary, he recalled the yearning with which he had hoped to carry out a series of reforms that did not come to fruition, concluding with the following words: "But there was no remedy". We can assume that Goya felt the same disappointment and was perhaps aware of Jovellanos's text, and we can even imagine that he used this phrase to title this print.

Conservación

The plate is preserved in the National Chalcography (no. 195).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • Five hundred years of fine prints
    Londres
    London
    1976
    exposición del 10 de febrero al 10 de marzo de 1976
  • 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
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.94, cat. 59
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.179, cat. 499
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.164-165, cat. 96
  • 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.249, fig. 169
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.86, cat. 112
  • 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.160-163
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B.
    Goya en tiempos de guerra
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2008
    cat. 21
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 217
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 301
  • 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. 38
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