- Cronología
- Ca. 1797 - 1799
- Dimensiones
- 219 x 146 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Etching and burnished aquatint
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Undisputed work
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 28 Nov 2010 / 29 May 2024
- Inventario
- 225
All will fall (at the bottom)
19. (in the upper right-hand corner)
See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.
There are known print runs in which the word "caerán" appears without an accent.
A preparatory drawing for this engraving is in the Prado Museum.
An old woman whose head is covered with a cloak and who places her hands in front of her breast in a gesture of supplication, looks up at the height where several birds with human heads flutter about, some of which are leaning against the trunk of a dry tree. One of them has been specially illuminated by Goya; it is a woman with the body of a bird, with a generous bosom and adorned with ribbons that seem to serve as a lure. Alongside the old woman, the painter has depicted two other young women with plentiful cleavage, suggesting that they are prostitutes. The one on the right is impaling one of the birds with a human head that can be seen in the upper part of the print.
Goya made a reserve of varnish in the aquatint to create illuminated areas such as in the decoy, in the figures at the bottom and in the area above the backs of the two young girls. The aquatint was burnished on the figure of the officer in order to show different tonalities, although these are hardly visible today due to the degradation of the aquatint.
In Ayala's manuscript it is said of Capricho no. 19 that "all kinds of brutes, soldiers, peasants and friars flutter around a half-hen lady: they fall, the wenches hold them by the wings, make them vomit and pull out their guts. In the manuscript of the Prado National Museum, it is written about this picture: "Let not those who are going to fall learn from the example of those who have fallen! But there is no other choice, they will all fall". In the manuscript of the National Library, the explanation of this print is somewhat more specific, as it says: "A whore stands as a decoy at the window, and soldiers, peasants and even friars come and all sorts of little birds flutter around; the procuress prays to God that they fall, and the other whores pluck them, and make them vomit, and tear out their guts like hunters pluck out partridges".
This print is a clear allegory of prostitution in which the lure is the bird-woman with ribbons in her hair, a mole and a generous bust. Around her flutter multiple bird-men representing the various social classes. There is an officer with a pointed hat and a small sabre, as well as a monk in an attitude of reverence or prayer with his head hooded and his hands tucked into the sleeves of his habit. One of these bird-men approaches the decoy with a libidinous expression. The intention of the bird-woman is to seduce all those around her, all of whom will fall and all of whom will be plucked in the presence of the procuress.
Goya's visual sources for this engraving come from traditional emblematic art. It is thus possible to draw certain analogies with Insignia sacrae Caesareae majestatis and with Columbarium puellarum from the book by Johann Theodore de Bry (1528-1598). In Columbarium puellarum we can see two female figures around a columbarium around which fly various creatures that are the result of the fusion between a bird and a human being. It should also be borne in mind that the theme of bird-hunting is used with some frequency in emblem literature to illustrate a love satire.
The plate is in poor condition ( National Chalcography, no. 190).
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De grafiek van GoyaRijksmuseum RijksprentenkabinetAmsterdam1970from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971cat. 23
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Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)Hamburger KunsthalleHamburg1980cat. 26
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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. 88
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GoyaNationalmuseumStockholm1994consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995cat. 58
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Francisco de GoyaMuseo d'Arte ModernaLugano1996exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.cat. 19, p. 46
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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. 25
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Goya artista de su tiempo y Goya artista únicoThe National Museum of Western ArtTokyo1999from December 1st to July 3th 1999cat. 104
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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. 19, p.150
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Goya. Opera graficaPinacoteca del Castello di San GiorgioLegnano2006exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007p.27
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Goya e ItaliaMuseo de ZaragozaZaragoza2008organized by the Fundación Goya en Aragóna, consultant editor Joan Sureda Pons. From June 1st to September 15th 2008cat. 321
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Goya et la modernitéPinacothèque de ParisParís2013from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014cat. 184
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Goya: Order and disorderMuseum of Fine ArtsBoston2014cat. 89
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2022
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Some emblematic sources of GoyaJournal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes1959pp.109-110
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Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.OxfordBruno Cassirer1964p.89, cat. 54
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p.178, cat.489
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Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertesMadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando1992pp.148-149, cat. 88
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Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalMadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional1996p.83 cat. 107
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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.138-141
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ParísPinacoteca de París2013p. 250
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Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado2014p. 76
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Goya: Order & DisorderBostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications2014p. 160
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Goya. In the Norton Simon MuseumPasadenaNorton Simon Museum2016pp. 42-75
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Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz2022p. 35