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81-495: Los Caprichos ( The Caprices ) is a set of 80 prints in aquatint and etching created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797–1798 and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya's satirizing Spanish society at the end of the 18th century, particularly the nobility and the clergy. Goya in his plates humorously and mercilessly criticized society while aspiring to more just laws and

162-411: A burin , required ten years to master. Goya learned a different technique, etching, which is similar to drawing. He also learned a second, more complicated technique, aquatint, which allowed him gradations of stains from white to black, similar to making washes in paint. Using both techniques simultaneously, which was something new, Goya obtained engravings that are very like paintings. It is unknown where

243-401: A ground that will resist acid. Ground is applied by dissolving powdered resin in spirits, by applying the powder directly to the surface of the plate, or by using a liquid acrylic resist. In all forms of etching the acid resist is commonly referred to as "the ground." An aquatint box is used to apply resin powder. The powder is at the bottom of the box, a crank or a bellows is used to blow

324-416: A crucial change in his life. His work after 1793 has a new depth and seriousness. His attitude became more critical, and his deafness had sharpened his inner consciousness. His language became rich and enigmatic. The Enlightenment ideology became a constant reference. This was recognized by Francisco Zapater, his friend and biographer, who stated that Goya in the last decade of the 18th century, "was agitated by

405-636: A lifetime pension of twelve thousand reales per year for his son Javier. The work was a tour-de-force critique of 18th-century Spain, and humanity in general, from the point of view of the Enlightenment . The informal style, as well as the depiction of contemporary society found in Caprichos , makes them (and Goya himself) a precursor to the modernist movement almost a century later. Capricho No. 43, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters in particular has attained an iconic status. Goya's series, and

486-476: A manuscript, now in the Museo del Prado , which help explain his often cryptic intentions, as do the titles printed below each image. Aware of the risk he was taking, to protect himself, he gave many of his prints imprecise labels, especially the satires of the aristocracy and the clergy. He also diluted the messaging by illogically arranging the engravings. Goya explained in an announcement that he chose subjects "from

567-415: A needle to scratch through an acid-proof resist and make lines, aquatint uses powdered rosin (resin) to create a tonal effect. The rosin is acid resistant and typically adhered to the plate by controlled heating; where the grains are will print white, with black areas around. The tonal variation is controlled by the level of mordant exposure over large areas, and thus the image is shaped by large sections at

648-488: A new educational system. Closely associated with the Enlightenment , the criticisms are far-ranging and acidic. The images expose the predominance of superstition , religious fanaticism, the Inquisition , religious orders , the ignorance and inabilities of the various members of the ruling class, pedagogical shortcomings, marital mistakes, and the decline of rationality . Goya added brief explanations of each image to

729-667: A peak after about 1750, and as they were initially very secretive, the history of the emergence of the standard technique remains unclear. Various claimants include the Swede Per Floding working with the Frenchman François-Philippe Charpentier in 1761, J. B. Delafosse in 1766, working with the amateur Jean-Claude Richard (often rather misleadingly known as the Abbé de Saint-Non) in 1766, and Jean-Baptiste Le Prince in 1768–69. Le Prince

810-430: A powder, particularly when using the technique known as sugar-lift . To produce a printing surface using sugar-lift, the artist makes a solution of India ink and sugar by melting sugar into heated ink. This mixture is then applied to a prepared plate with a brush, allowing for a bold expression not possible with the most etching techniques. When the ink/sugar mixture is dry the plate is coated with asphaltum (liquid ground);

891-543: A series of sketches, some of which anticipate Los Caprichos . In 1796 Goya returned to Andalusia with Ceán Bermúdez, and after July he was in Sanlúcar de Barrameda with the Duchess of Alba , who had been widowed the previous month. The meeting with her represented a period of sensuality that was reflected in a series of masterful drawings where the duchess appears: Album A, or Album de Sanlúcar , that would inspire some of

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972-520: A series where he dreamed that he was conversing in Hell both with demons and the damned. In Quevedo's dreams, as later in the Caprichos , sinners retain their human form, or take on animal attributes that symbolize their vices, or are depicted as witches as in Dream No. 3 . The project for this edition consisted of 72 prints. A sales advertisement was published in 1797 specifying that the subscription period

1053-466: A short period (30 seconds to 1 minute, with a wide variation depending on how light the lightest tones are meant to be). A test piece may be made with etching times noted, as the strength of the etchant will vary. More than thirty minutes should produce a very dark area. Etching for many hours (up to 24) will be as dark as etching for one hour, but the deep etch would produce raised ink on the paper. Contemporary printmakers often use spraypaint instead of

1134-446: A time. The rosin is then washed off the plate before printing. Another tonal technique, mezzotint , begins with a plate surface that is evenly indented and roughened so that it will print as an even and fairly dark tone of ink. The mezzotint plate is then smoothed and polished to make areas carry less ink and thus print a lighter shade. Alternatively, beginning with a smooth plate, areas are roughened to make them darker. Occasionally

1215-695: A year. After Goya returned to Madrid, he was unable to resume his normal activities for a long time. Thus, in March 1794, the director of the Fábrica de Tapices (Tapestry Factory) believed that Goya was unable to paint because of his illness. In April 1797, Goya resigned as Director of the Academy due to prolonged convalescence from his ailments. Serious illness caused a great crisis in Goya’s life. The shock of being one step away from death and permanent deafness engendered

1296-400: Is inked all over then wiped clean to leave ink only in the marks. The plate is passed through a printing press together with a sheet of paper, and strong pressure applied pushing the paper into the marks, so that a transfer of the ink to the paper occurs. This is repeated many times. Like etching, aquatint uses the application of a mordant (acid) to etch into the metal plate. Where etching uses

1377-459: Is often thought the masterpiece of the style. Another branch of this French movement mostly used mezzotint for tone and came to specialize in illustrating medical textbooks. This was at first led by Jacob Christoph Le Blon (1667–1741), who very nearly anticipated modern CMYK colour separation and then carried on by his pupil Jacques Fabien Gautier d'Agoty and later members of the d'Agoty family until around 1800. Goya , maker of incontestably

1458-416: Is presented as a lure where the woman seduces without compromising her heart. Furthermore, and as a counterpoint, the confidante and guide of female lovers, the old matchmaker, appears in the background. A second group criticizes social conventions, which Goya does by deforming to the point of exaggeration traits that embody human vices and blunders. Contemplation of these individuals leaves no room for doubt;

1539-401: Is reflected in the motives of his work. Given the literary style of the advertisement, it is speculated that one of Goya's friends authored the text. Another inference from the announcement is that the artist never intended to ridicule any specific individual. However, Goya’s contemporaries did see specific allusions, a very dangerous inference in that turbulent time. In general, the advertisement

1620-599: Is reserved and cautious regarding possible accusations regarding its content. As has been noted, Goya associated with people committed to the fight for the reformation of Spanish life and embraced the Enlightenment program of renewal. The Diario Madrid coincided with the reflections of the enlightened about forces hostile to the development of reason. Aware of the risk of criticism, and to protect himself, Goya gave his prints labels that were sometimes precise, but other times imprecise, especially for prints that criticized

1701-472: Is well after the Caprichos . In one way or another, however, Goya had access to this or other similar material because the coincidences are pronounced. Goya in the Witchcrafts satirizes his personal conclusions over feminine inconstancy and the censorship of social vices, now believing in the existence of evil that he expresses in beings of repulsive ugliness. Through an overflowing fantasy, he deforms

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1782-482: Is where Goyesque fantasy reached its maximum expression with the most elaborate inventions. It is surprising to notice how radically the Goyesque inspiration changes here. José Ortega y Gasset said that in this Goya Romanticism suddenly springs up for the first time a world of mysterious and demonic beings that man carries in the recesses of his being. Azorín spoke of the demonic reality of the Caprichos compared to

1863-511: The Capricci of Giambatista Tiepolo to refer to imaginations of reality. As an engraver Goya reached maturity in this series. He had previously made another series with engravings of paintings by Velázquez . Goya had needed to learn to engrave because at that time painters did not know the engraving technique, which was considered a craftsman's work. The usual technique in Spain, engraving with

1944-470: The Inquisition or the asylum where he had developed a personal and intense vision with an extremely expressive style. Thus, Goya's illness establishes not only a chronological division of his art, it also establishes a division between commissioned works, subject to inevitable restrictions by the conventions of the time, and other more personal works for himself and friends where he expressed himself with total freedom. In 1796 Goya visited Andalusia and made

2025-526: The National Library of Paris . Furthermore, the Prado Museum has five drawings with signs of having been recorded on plates. Los Caprichos lack an organized and coherent structure, but they have important thematic nuclei. The most prevalent themes are: the superstition around witches, which predominates after Capricho No. 43 and that serves to express ideas about evil in a tragicomic way;

2106-408: The 18th century that directed its efforts to reform the erroneous behavior of man. Goya limited himself to showing apparently everyday dark scenes conceived in strange and unreal settings. In the first half he presented his most realistic and satirical engravings, criticizing the behavior of human beings from the perspective of reason. In the second part he shows fantastic engravings where he abandoned

2187-591: The German Johnny Friedlaender notably frequent users. In the United States the printmaker Pedro Joseph de Lemos popularized aquatints in art schools with his publications (1919–1940), which simplified the cumbersome techniques, and with traveling exhibitions of his award-winning prints. An aquatint requires a metal plate, an acid , and something to resist the acid. Traditionally copper or zinc plates were used. The artist applies

2268-527: The Inquisition, which then enforced public morality and sustained the existing society, was real, since these engravings attacked the clergy and the high nobility. The specific origins of the conflict between the Caprichos and the Inquisition is well documented in the book La Inquisición sin máscara ( The Inquisition without a Mask ), published in Cádiz in 1811 by the enlightened Antonio Puigblanch (under

2349-533: The Inquisition. Possibly Goya kept some of the series, which he sold in Cádiz during the War of Independence. According to the Prado Museum manuscript, the last page indicates that the bookseller Ranza took 37 copies. According to this, either Goya or the Royal Chalcography released copies for sale in Cádiz in 1811. Considering that in the donation document to the king it was said that 27 copies were sold to

2430-499: The absence of Jovellanos and Saavedra in the Government precipitated events. Perhaps wary of possible intervention by the Inquisition, Goya withdrew the Caprichos from sale. Although in a later letter in 1803 to Miguel Cayetano Soler, Goya incorrectly stated that the series was on sale for two days; in actuality, they were on sale for fourteen days. It is assumed that Goya wanted to mitigate details that could harm him. The fear of

2511-509: The aristocracy and the clergy. Also, Goya softened the message by giving an illogical arrangement and numbering of the engravings. If he had followed a more logical sequence, his work would have undergone more stringent censorship and received explosive criticism, exposing him to greater consequences. Although Goya took risks, at the time of its publication, the Caprichos had the support of his enlightened friends who were once again in power since November 1797. However, Godoy's fall from power and

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2592-547: The artist always denied the associations. The series was published in February 1799; however, just 14 days after going on sale, when Manuel Godoy and his affiliates lost power, the painter hastily withdrew the copies still available for fear of the Inquisition. In 1807, to save the Caprichos , Goya decided to offer the king the plates and the 240 unsold copies, destined for the Royal Calcography, in exchange for

2673-424: The artist will then etch an outline of any aspects of the drawing they wish to establish with line; this provides the basis and guide for the later tone work. They may also have applied (at the very start, before any biting occurs) an acid-resistant "stop out" (also called an asphaltum or hard ground) if they intend to keep any areas totally white and free of ink, such as highlights. The artist then begins immersing

2754-556: The cartographer Peter Perez Burdett . It was taken up by the watercolourist Paul Sandby , who also seems to have introduced technical refinements as well as inventing the name "aquatint". In England artists such as Sandby and Thomas Gainsborough were attracted by the suitability of etched outlines with aquatint for reproducing the popular English landscape watercolours, which at this period usually also had been given an initial outline drawing in ink. Publishers of prints and illustrations for expensive books, both important British markets at

2835-597: The central 19th century when the technique was little used, and definitively superseded for commercial uses, it was revived near the end of the century in France, by Édouard Manet , Félicien Rops , Degas , Pissarro , Jacques Villon and other artists. In 1891, Mary Cassatt , based in Paris, exhibited a series of highly original coloured drypoint and aquatint prints, including Woman Bathing and The Coiffure , inspired by an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints shown there

2916-528: The coppers were stamped; Glendinning points out a printing press as possible, but according to Carderera, it was the painter's house or workshop. The definitive form of the Caprichos series of 80 prints was finished on January 17, 1799, as there is a receipt from the Osuna Archive that on that date they paid for 4 series purchased by the Duchess of Osuna . In the Diario de Madrid of February 6, 1799,

2997-693: The creation of the Caprichos and can be clearly seen in plates depicting satire with clearly illustrated inspiration and others depicting his skepticism in the possibilities of man. Critics of Goya's art distinguish between his work before and after his illness, considering the latter the most valuable and authentic style of the painter. In a letter that he wrote to his friend from the Academy, Bernardo Iriarte, on January 4, 1794, Goya gives important testimony that while convalescing from his serious illness, his works depicted observations and revelations that would not have been possible in his commissioned works. He referred to innovative small paintings of themes related to

3078-452: The drawings. The Caprichos innovated this characteristic in depth. Goya initially conceived this series of prints as " Sueños " ( Dreams ) (and not as Caprichos ), making at least 28 preparatory drawings, 11 of them from Album B (in the Prado Museum except for some that have disappeared). Los Sueños ( Dreams ) would be a graphic version of the literary dreams of the satirical writer Francisco de Quevedo , who wrote between 1607 and 1635

3159-423: The extreme burden. The title "You who cannot" is the first part of a popular saying that concludes "carry me on your back", and highlights what the enlightened people of the late 18th century were already beginning to think about the incapacity and impotence of the people. Goya also adds the usual metaphor of the people carrying the idle classes; however, he represents the leisure classes as donkeys while he represents

3240-515: The features of the faces and bodies of these tragicomic witches, suggesting new forms of malignancy. A group Goya developed in parallel to that of Witches is that of Elves. The belief in goblins was a minor superstition; goblins did not inspire terror and were seen in a familiar, festive and mocking way. Furthermore, in the second half of the 18th century the word “ duende ” often meant “friar,” which explains why Goya's duendes are dressed in religious habits. Goya initially seems to treat friars just as

3321-432: The ferocity with which they are presented inevitably leads us to condemn them out of hand. Marriages of convenience and male lasciviousness are criticized in the images presented below. There are also several cases where two prints are related to each other, either because one is a chronological continuation of the other or because they present the same topic in a different way. The images below show two related prints. At

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3402-571: The floor above his shop in The Strand in London, each brushing a single colour and then passing the sheet down a long table. Over the same period in France there was sustained interest in techniques for true colour printing using multiple plates, which used multiple printmaking techniques which often included aquatint (or mezzotint ) for tone. Artists included Jean-François Janinet and Philibert-Louis Debucourt , whose La Promenade Publique

3483-645: The goblins who were perceived as harmless characters. But as the pictures progress, friars transform into sinister beings whose activities are far from harmless. Aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used historically to print in colour, both by printing with multiple plates in different colours, and by making monochrome prints that were then hand-coloured with watercolour . It has been in regular use since

3564-428: The greatest prints using aquatint, probably learned of the technique through Giovanni David from Genoa , the first significant Italian to use it. Goya used it, normally with etching and often burnishing and other techniques, in his great print series Los Caprichos (1799), Los Desastres de la Guerra (1810–1819), La Tauromaquia (1816) and Los disparates (c. 1816–1823). After a period of several decades in

3645-434: The head, hands, and feet of a bird of prey and the second with the face of a fool and the ears of a donkey, engaged in prayer. Earlier there might have been hope that men would get rid of the burden of the stupid donkeys, but in the second picture there is no hope, the oppressed have become brutalized and one of the monsters that dominates them is a voracious bird. The most original group, known as “Witchcraft ” or “ Dreams ,”

3726-478: The individual. In 1788 Charles IV came to the throne. After the coronation of Charles IV, Goya portrayed the king with his wife, Queen María Luisa , subsequently being named Court Painter . The period of the French Revolution had repercussions in Spain. Charles IV suppressed Enlightenment ideas and removed the most advanced thinkers from public life. Goya's enlightened friends were persecuted, and

3807-490: The king's help and obtain his protection. As the work was enigmatic, aspiring to make sense of the plates, contemporary handwritten comments soon emerged that have been preserved. The manuscript conserved in the Prado Museum is the best known, as well as the most cautious and ambiguous. It avoids dangerous comments by giving a general and unspecific nature to the most compromising prints, especially those referring to religious and political matters. Two others, one that belonged to

3888-718: The last group of prints in his series The Disasters of War , which he called " caprichos enfáticos " ("emphatic caprices"), are far from the spirit of light-hearted fantasy the term " caprice " usually suggests in art. Thirteen official editions are known: one from 1799, five in the 19th century, and seven in the 20th century, with the last one in 1970 being carried out by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando . Los Caprichos have influenced generations of artists from movements as diverse as French Romanticism , Impressionism , German Expressionism or Surrealism . Ewan MacColl and André Malraux considered Goya one of

3969-478: The later 18th century, and was most widely used between about 1770 and 1830, when it was used both for artistic prints and decorative ones. After about 1830 it lost ground to lithography and other techniques. There have been periodic revivals among artists since then. An aquatint plate wears out relatively quickly, and is less easily reworked than other intaglio plates. Many of Goya's plates were reprinted too often posthumously, giving very poor impressions. Among

4050-616: The latter's reprint of the Auto de Fe on witchcraft that the Inquisition held in Logroño in 1610. Although Inquisition proceedings were rare at the end of the 18th century, the most important trials of the 17th century were available. Moratín, who saw in these trials a monstrous farce for the supposed witches, decided to republish the most famous of all the witchcraft trials from Logroño in 1610, adding his burlesque comments. Specialists have doubted this hypothesis by Helman, since Moratín's reissue

4131-425: The life and behavior of friars; erotic satire relating to prostitution and the role of the matchmaker; and to a lesser extent social satire of unequal marriages, the education of children, and the Inquisition. Goya criticized these and other evils without following a rigorous order. In a radically new way, he showed a materialist and dispassionate vision, in contrast to the paternalistic social criticism carried out in

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4212-555: The ministers and thieves are wolves; and the clerks are cats (same as in Caprichos No. 21 and 24 ). At one point, Goya changed the name of his engravings to “ Caprichos ” and planned to use all but three of the Dreams as Caprichos . This has been determined because the drawings show signs of having been moistened for transfer to plates. The word " Capricci " had been used in the well-known prints of Jacques Callot from 1617 and in

4293-460: The most famous prints using the aquatint technique are the major series by Goya , many of The Birds of America by John James Audubon (with the colour added by hand), and prints by Mary Cassatt printed in colour using several plates. In intaglio printmaking techniques such as engraving and etching , the artist makes marks into the surface of the plate (in the case of aquatint, a copper or zinc plate) that are capable of holding ink. The plate

4374-464: The multitude of faults and vices common in every civil society, as well as from the vulgar prejudices and lies authorized by custom, ignorance or self-interest, those that he has thought most suitable matter for ridicule". Despite the relatively vague language of Goya's captions in the Caprichos , Goya’s contemporaries understood the engravings, even the most ambiguous ones, as a direct satire of their society, even alluding to specific individuals, though

4455-435: The new ideas that were sweeping Europe." However, his ideology evolved towards skepticism. He went from trusting in enlightened thought that sought to improve society by showing its faults and vices to becoming a precursor of the current world that lost confidence in the intellectual capacity of men to regenerate their society and only found a dark world without ideals. This transition and evolution in his thinking occurred during

4536-485: The paintings of the Charterhouse of Aula Dei ( Cartuja de Aula Dei ), Goya used profusely in the Caprichos . Also in this notebook, Goya began to write titles or phrases in the compositions. These stinging comments often have double meaning in the best Spanish literary tradition. Likewise, Goya began to fill his images with ambiguous visual meanings; the images and the texts enable several different interpretations of

4617-413: The peasants with the dignity of men. The image shows us that the world is upside down and that the social system is totally inadequate. Capricho No. 63 deals with the same topic, but the failure of agrarian reform has provoked the author's pessimism and has led to his radicalization. Thus, the peasants have become beings like donkeys, while the horsemen now are represented as two monsters, the first with

4698-456: The plate in the acid bath, progressively stopping out (protecting from acid) any areas that have achieved the designed tonality. These tones, combined with the limited line elements, give aquatints a distinctive, watery look. Also, aquatints, like mezzotints, provide ease in creating large areas of tone without laborious cross-hatching ; but aquatint plates, it is noted, are generally more durable than mezzotint plates. The first etch should be for

4779-460: The plate is then submerged in warm water which dissolves the sugar so that the image "lifts off" the plate. The exposed areas are then aquatinted to hold ink and the plate is ready to be printed from. Leandro Fern%C3%A1ndez de Morat%C3%ADn Moratín was born in Madrid the son of Nicolás Fernández de Moratín , a major literary reformer in Spain from 1762 until his death in 1828. Distrusting

4860-527: The plates are deteriorated, and some can no longer reproduce the effects initially planned. Tomás Harris considered that from print No. 1, the most used, a total of around two thousand prints must have been made. Goya devised more prints for the Caprichos that for unknown reasons he did not include in the series. Thus, three proofs of three different engravings are preserved in the National Library of Madrid and two proofs of two other engravings in

4941-420: The play La comedia nueva ( The New Comedy ), a dramatic attack on the extravagant plots used by other contemporary playwrights. A supporter of Joseph Bonaparte , whose rule had allowed far more expression of liberal thinking than Spain's Bourbon monarch Carlos IV was willing to tolerate, Moratín was given the post of royal librarian. However, his 1805 comedy El sí de las niñas ( The Maidens' Consent )

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5022-554: The playwright López de Ayala and the other in the National Library of Madrid , contain language that freely criticizes the clergy, politics, and even specific people. The second edition would have been made between 1821 and 1836, previously printed like all the following ones by the Royal National Chalcography. The last one is from 1936-1939 during the Spanish Civil War . Due to so many editions,

5103-404: The powder up into the air of the box. A window allows the engraver to see the density of flowing powder and to place the plate in the box using a drawer. When the powder covers the plate, it can be extracted from the box for the next operations. The plate is then heated; if the plate is covered with powder, the resin melts forming a fine and even coat; if it is in spirits, the spirits evaporate and

5184-415: The precursors of modern art, citing the innovations and ruptures of the Caprichos . In 1799, a collection of eighty prints of whimsical subjects etched by the painter Francisco de Goya, who was 53 years old, was put up for sale. Through ridicule, extravagance, and fantasy, these engravings criticized the society of Spain at the time. To understand the genesis of the Caprichos , it is necessary to consider

5265-419: The pseudonym Nataniel Jomtob): Los Caprichos were withdrawn from public sale very shortly after their release in 1799, after only 27 copies of the set had been purchased. In 1803, to save the Caprichos , Goya decided to offer the plates and all the available series (240) to the king, destined for the Royal Chalcography, in exchange for a pension for his son. In 1825 he would write that he had been denounced to

5346-515: The public, this first series had a total of about 300 copies. Therefore, it must have been the denunciation to the Inquisition that motivated the opportunistic transfer to the King’s Chalcography of this first edition, made in reddish or sepia ink. It is significant that Goya held an ambivalent position, close to the enlightened, but strongly related to the traditional power as painter of the king and his aristocracy, which allowed him to request

5427-465: The rational point of view, and following the logic of the absurd, he painted delirious visions with strange beings. In the first part, one of the largest and most autobiographical groups is dedicated to erotic satire. The bitter disappointment in love with the Duchess of Alba is presented in several prints where he mainly criticizes women's inconstancy in love and impiety towards their lovers. Femininity

5508-534: The realistic vision of the other masters. López Rey believed that in this part the evil in Los Caprichos is reduced to the absurd, drawing the demonic as the result of man's error in separating himself from the ways of reason. According to Edith Helman, who studied the literary references of the Caprichos , the most direct inspiration for the Witchcrafts was found by Goya in his friend Moratín and in

5589-402: The result is essentially the same. Now the plate is dipped in acid, producing an even and fine level of corrosion (the "bite") sufficient to hold ink. At this point, the plate is said to carry about a 50% halftone. This means that, were the plate printed with no further biting, the paper would display a gray color more or less directly in between white (no ink) and black (full ink). At some point

5670-583: The sale of the collection was announced, along with the painter's motivation. A total of 300 copies was put up for sale. The advertisement indicates that they were sold at the perfumery on the Calle del Desengaño No. 1 (ironically, Disillusion Street No. 1), the same building where Goya lived. According to the advertisement in Diario Madrid , Goya intended to imitate literature on censorship and human vices; an entire aesthetic, sociological, and moral program

5751-555: The same time, Capricho No. 42, "You who cannot" is also included in another group, that of the Asnerias (a Medieval Latin word meaning "donkey farm") (six plates from Caprichos Nos. 37 to 42 ), where imitating the fabulists, the stupidity of the donkey in criticizing the intellectual professions is represented. In Capricho No. 42 , two peasants carry the nobility and the idle friars on their backs like beasts of burden, represented as two happy donkeys. The peasants suffer from carrying

5832-499: The teaching offered in Spain's universities at the time, Leandro grew up in the rich literary environment of his father and became an admirer of Enlightenment thought. In addition to translating works of Molière and William Shakespeare into Spanish, he himself was a major poet, dramatist and man of letters whose writings promoted the reformist ideas associated with the Spanish Enlightenment . Early in his career, he

5913-440: The themes of the Caprichos . Also, the bitter ending and separation inspired other prints of the series. Later he made the drawings for the so-called Album B, or Sanlúcar-Madrid , where he criticized vices of his time through caricatures. In this album, he increased the effect of chiaroscuro, making use of light to emphasize visual areas of ideological importance. This expressionist and nonrealistic use of light, previously used in

5994-837: The threat of the prison of Cabarrús, as well as the exile of Jovellanos must have worried Goya. On a trip from Madrid to Seville in January 1793, Goya fell ill, perhaps from an attack of apoplexy . To convalesce, he was taken to Cádiz to the home of his enlightened friend Sebastián Martínez, availing of the good doctors of the Faculty and the benevolent climate of the city. Though it is unclear what illness Goya had, several hypotheses have been suggested: venereal disease , thrombosis , Meniere's syndrome , Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome and, lately, lead poisoning . Goya became deaf; at first he couldn't see well; and he walked maintaining balance with difficulty. Illness kept him in Cádiz for almost half

6075-503: The time, also adopted the technique. In all these areas, a print with etching and aquatint gave very satisfactory results when watercolour was added by relatively low-skilled painters copying a model, with a flat wash of colour on top of the varied tones of the aquatint. After the French Revolution , one of the most successful publishers in London, the German Rudolf Ackermann , had numbers of French refugees working on

6156-474: The two techniques of aquatint and mezzotint are combined. A variety of early experiments aimed to add tonal effects to etching included the first use of a resin dust ground by the painter and printmaker Jan van de Velde IV in Amsterdam , around 1650. However, none of these developed a technique that caught on with other printmakers. Experimentation by several artists with somewhat different techniques reached

6237-522: The year before. These used multiple blocks for the different colours. Cassatt was attracted to the simplicity and clarity of Japanese design, and the skillful use of blocks of colour. In her interpretation, she used primarily light, delicate pastel colours and avoided black (a "forbidden" colour among the Impressionists). It continued to be used in the 20th century, with the Czech T. F. Šimon and

6318-467: The years preceding them. In the 1780s, Goya began to interact with some of the most important intellectuals in the country, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos , Juan Meléndez Valdés , Leandro Fernández de Moratín and Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez , who introduced him to the ideals of the Enlightenment. He shared their opposition to religious fanaticism, superstition, the Inquisition and religious orders. They aspired to fairer laws and an educational system based on

6399-450: Was going to last two months, since the plates had yet to be printed. The price set was 288 reales, payable in two months. Other precedents may have inspired Goya. For instance, the royal collections contained the works of Hieronymus Bosch , whose strange creatures were surely men and women whose vices had turned them into animals that represented their defects. In Arriaga's satires (1784), men are seen converted into donkeys, monkeys or dogs;

6480-503: Was more effective than the others in publicizing his technique, publishing Découverte du procédé de graver au lavis in 1780, though he failed to sell his secret in his lifetime. It was bought posthumously by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1782, who released it on an open basis. Though England was to become one of the countries using the technique most, the earliest English aquatints were not exhibited until 1772, by

6561-535: Was supported by statesman and author Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos , who, in 1787, arranged for him to study for a year in Paris. In 1792, the Spanish government provided the funds for him to travel to England in order to extend his education. In 1790 he published his first comedy El viejo y la niña ( The Old Man and the Young Girl ), a sombre work which attacked the consequences of arranged marriages between people of differing ages. Two years later, in 1792, he wrote

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