Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
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
Inscripciones

Sopla. (at the bottom)

 69. (in the upper right-hand corner)

 Goya (in the bottom left-hand corner)

Historia

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).

Análisis artístico

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.

Conservación

The aquatint of the plate is very weakened ((National Chalcography, no. 240).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • 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.
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • 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 luces y sombras
    CaixaForum
    Barcelona
    2012
    consultant editors José Manuel Matilla and Manuela B. Marqués. From March 16th to June 24th 2012
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Agen
    2019
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.146, cat. 104
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.184, cat. 589
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.97-98, cat. 57-58
  • MENA, Manuela B. y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1993
    pp.213-214, fig. 150
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.111, cat. 161
  • 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.346-351
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 237
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • MOTTIN, Bruno, EFEDAQUE, Adrien and WILSON-BAREU, Juliet
    AgenSnoeck
    2019
    p. 137
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 49
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