- Cronología
- Ca. 1797 - 1799
- Dimensiones
- 210 x 150 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Aguafuerte, aguatinta, punta seca y buril
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Undisputed work
- Titular
- Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 10 Jan 2011 / 29 May 2024
- Inventario
- 225
Sopla. (at the bottom)
69. (in the upper right-hand corner)
Goya (in the bottom left-hand corner)
See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.
Three pre-print proofs with aquatint, drypoint and burin, as well as two preparatory drawings, have been preserved (1), (2).
The scene features a woman with an extremely thin, naked torso and her hair tied up in a high bun. She holds a child by the ankles and wrists with both hands, using him as if he were a bellows to stoke the fire of a brazier made of bones. All this is observed by a group of characters seated around the witch, who look at her with wide eyes and open mouths. At the feet of the witch holding this improvised bellows we see another witch sucking a boy's penis and, further back, one carrying two creatures in her arms; she is protected by a strange naked creature with loose hair who spreads her wings.
Goya uses a fine aquatint in a single tone and makes profuse use of etching to define all the figures in the scene. He works in the same way as he does in most of the early engravings in this series.
The explanation given for this print in the manuscript in the Prado Museum is as follows: "There was undoubtedly a great catch of youngsters the night before, and the banquet being prepared will be sumptuous. Enjoy your meal". The one in the National Library is somewhat more specific in its interpretation: "The men, in a rage, do a thousand devilish things with the children; they fornicate with each other by force, sucking their penises, and various other obscenities".
This image captures with particular crudeness the atrocities to which the children were subjected in the acts of witchcraft that are unambiguously recounted in the Self-belief celebrated in the city of Logroño on 6 and 7 November 1610. Goya took these accounts as a starting point for recreating them by appealing to his imagination, generating an image full of excesses and aberrant acts that arouse rejection in the viewer.
The aquatint of the plate is very weakened ((National Chalcography, no. 240).
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Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. TapisserienKunsthalle BaselBasle1953from January 23th to April 12th 1953cat. 248
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Goya y el espíritu de la IlustraciónMuseo Nacional del PradoMadrid1988from 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. Sayrecat. 58
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Goya. La década de Los CaprichosMadrid1992organized 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 1993cat. 58
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Francisco de GoyaMuseo d'Arte ModernaLugano1996exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.cat. 69, p.96
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Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalBiblioteca NacionalMadrid1996from September 19th to December 15th 1996cat. 144
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Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996Galerie KornfeldBern1996from November 21st 1996 to January 1997cat. 75
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Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerraSan Donato Milanese2000Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzottacat. 69
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Goya e la tradizione italianaFondazione Magnani RoccaMamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)2006consultant editors Fred Licht and Simona Tosini Pizzetti. From September 9th to December 3th 2006cat. 69, p.163
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Goya. Opera graficaPinacoteca del Castello di San GiorgioLegnano2006exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007p.42
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Goya luces y sombrasCaixaForumBarcelona2012consultant editors José Manuel Matilla and Manuela B. Marqués. From March 16th to June 24th 2012cat. 28
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Goya et la modernitéPinacothèque de ParisParís2013from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014cat. 172
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Agen2019cat. 47
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2022
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Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.OxfordBruno Cassirer1964p.146, cat. 104
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p.184, cat. 589
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Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertesMadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando1992pp.97-98, cat. 57-58
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Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturasMadridMuseo del Prado1993pp.213-214, fig. 150
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Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalMadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional1996p.111, cat. 161
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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 ediciónMadridMuseo Nacional del Prado1999pp.346-351
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ParísPinacoteca de París2013p. 237
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Goya. In the Norton Simon MuseumPasadenaNorton Simon Museum2016pp. 42-75
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AgenSnoeck2019p. 137
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Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz2022p. 49