Francisco de Goya

Which one do they unchain it!

Clasificación
Which one do they unchain it!
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
218 x 149 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and burnished aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
29 Nov 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Which one do they unchain it!  (in the lower part)

21. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

There is a state proof with the full title in manuscript.

In the first proofs of the print run, the "ñ" appears without a tilde until the letter engraver corrected the error.

A preparatory drawing of this engraving has survived.

Análisis artístico

A bird-woman is attacked by a clerk and a bailiff, all of them with the face of a cat. This animal was defined in the dictionary of the Spanish language published in the 18th century as "the thieving thief who steals with cunning and deceit". The scene is being watched by a magistrate who sees how one of the men violently grabs the woman by the wing, which he bites off, causing the young woman to wince. Everything is taking place against a neutral background with no spatial reference.

Goya makes extensive use of a very grainy aquatint to create the neutral background in which he has suggested a certain luminosity around the figures. The white of the woman's torso and face, as well as the white of the hilt of the bailiff's sword, is obtained with a reserve of varnish.

The three manuscripts that explain the engravings of the Caprices series coincide in their interpretation of this engraving, which shows the complicity between the judges and the bailiffs and scribes in "fleecing" the prostitutes. Goya continues with the theme of engravings no. 19 and 20, in which the prostitutes took advantage of their clients' base instincts to extract money from them, although in this case he balances the scales by making them the victims of their clients. This way of establishing a parallel between two situations to demonstrate the parity between them is reminiscent of the way Goya censures violence in all its forms in engravings no. 2 and 3 of The Disasters of War (Rightly or Wrongly ; The Same Thing ), without taking a position in favour of one or the other.

The bailiffs sometimes pursued prostitutes and extorted money from them, thus obtaining multiple benefits. Paradoxically, however, they were precisely the ones who were informed of the places where this trade was practised and gave directions to the brothels to all those who came from outside Madrid and wanted this type of service.

In The Art of Whores by Nicolás Fernández de Moratín (Madrid, 1737-1780) - a regular at the gathering at the Fonda de San Sebastián attended by José Cadalso (Cádiz, 1741-San Roque, Cádiz, 1782), Tomas de Iriarte (Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, 1750-Madrid, 1791) and Ignacio López de Ayala (Cádiz, 1745/1750-1789) - a space is devoted to the bailiffs. On p. 81, the following is said: "Everyone knows what perverse people the bailiffs and notaries are; they persecute the poor whores, not with the desire to extinguish the bad, because they eat with crimes, and their life hangs on lawless men, criminals, and holy virtue is their murderer; and although they know that swindling them is not the way to correct them, since they remain poor, they always go on whoring them, robbing them with the pretence of making amends". Likewise, in Quevedo's The Sheriff Bailiff, the author refers to the prevailing corruption in the sphere of justice: "(...) the Judges are our pheasants, our gift dishes, and the seed that gives us devils the most profit and fruit; because from every Judge we sow, we take six Procurators, two Rapporteurs, four Scribes, five Letrados, and five thousand Negociantes, and this every day. From each Notary we take twenty Officers, and from each Officer thirty Bailiffs, and from each Bailiff ten Bailiffs".

Conservación

The plate is preserved in the National Chalcography (no. 192).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • 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
  • 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 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
  • Hamburg
    2019
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.90, cat. 55
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.179, cat. 494
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    cat. 90-91
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.84, cat. 109
  • 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
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    1999
    pp. 148-151
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 252
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • TACK, Ifee and PISOT, Sandra
    Bibliography']['number
    HamburgHirmer
    2019
    p. 310
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Bibliography']['number
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 36
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