Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
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
Inscripciones

All will fall (at the bottom)

 19. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

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.

Análisis artístico

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.

Conservación

The plate is in poor condition ( National Chalcography, no. 190).

Exposiciones
  • De grafiek van Goya
    Rijksmuseum Rijksprentenkabinet
    Amsterdam
    1970
    from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • 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 artista de su tiempo y Goya artista único
    The National Museum of Western Art
    Tokyo
    1999
    from December 1st to July 3th 1999
  • 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
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • LEVITINE, George
    Some emblematic sources of Goya
    Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
    1959
    pp.109-110
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.89, cat. 54
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.178, cat.489
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.148-149, cat. 88
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.83 cat. 107
  • 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.138-141
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 250
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B. y MAURER, Gudrun (comisarias)
    Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2014
    p. 76
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 160
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 35
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