Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
208 x 153 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and burnished aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Titular
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Ficha: realización/revisión
20 Dec 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Soplones. (at the bottom)

 48. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

There is only one known proof of the condition before additional burnishing, which shows a high level of luminosity. It shows a trace of ink in the left margin and the handwritten number 48 on the imprint of the plate.

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

Análisis artístico

Three witches cover their ears to avoid being blown away by the demonic creature that flies over them with its wings spread out on the back of a cat. This infernal being has spread wings and feline claws. They are also met by the sucking of a pair of buttocks that are directed towards the face of the warlocks. On the right are the heads of two animals, one of which has horns and its jaws open as if it were screeching.

The etching of the print has very well-defined lines, the aquatint is single-tone and was passed through the burnisher before the lettering was engraved.

The Prado manuscript interprets this scene as a pun on the title, which comments on the witches' lack of intelligence: "Los Bruxos soplones son los mas fastid.s detona la Brux.a y los menos yntelig.s en aquel arte. si supieran algo no se meterian à soplones". However, the manuscript of the National Library gives a different reading: "The auricular confession serves only to fill the ears of the friars with filth, obscenities and filth". It is possible, as in other engravings in this series, that the image has a double meaning.

One of the visual sources for this print must have been the Self-belief celebrated in the city of Logroño on 6 and 7 November 1610 by Leandro Fernández de Moratín (Madrid, 1760-Paris, 1828). In it he mentions the witches who confessed to the devil, although here the term "snitch" can be identified with "informer", thus Goya satirizes those who denounced other people to the Inquisition.

For other specialists, this work could be a criticism of the confessions made to clerics, as the figure in the foreground looks like a monk wearing a habit, which would tie in with the interpretation provided by the manuscript in the National Library.

Conservación

The plate is in rather poor condition, with the aquatint lost ( National Chalcography, no. 219).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • El arte de Goya
    Museo de Arte Occidental de Tokio
    Tokyo
    1971
    from 16th 1971 to January 23th 1972. Exhibited also at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, January 29th to March 15th 1972.
  • 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
  • Goya
    Nationalmuseum
    Stockholm
    1994
    consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995
  • 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
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.121, cat. 83
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.182, cat. 547
  • GUDIOL, José
    Goya, 1746-1828. Biografía, estudio analítico y catálogo de sus pinturas
    BarcelonaEdiciones Polígrafa s.a.
    1970
    p.396, fig. 647
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.185-187, cat. 109-110
  • 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. 152
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.99, cat. 137
  • 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.262-265
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 65
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
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