Bravisimo!

A monkey plays a guitar upside down, i.e. on the side where the strings are not. In front of him sits a donkey who looks at him with an absorbed expression, who seems to be enjoying the recital offered by the ape. Behind him are two men applauding and laughing. 

The title of the engraving is loaded with irony and serves to ridicule the donkey who is absorbed in a concert in which music is not present, as the monkey is not playing the guitar. Through this image, Goya lashes out at those who would have us believe that they enjoy music and boast of being great music lovers, when in reality they are absolute laymen. This idea is corroborated in three of the manuscripts in which Los Caprichos is explained. In the one in the National Library, for example, it is said that "even donkeys applaud bad music out of fashion, when they see others who say brabísimo". 

In turn, this engraving has been interpreted as a veiled allusion to Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma, represented by the donkey, and to Manuel Godoy, who has been identified with the monkey, as the Prince of Peace gave private recitals to the kings in an attempt to win their favour.

This print continues the "donkeys" in The Caprices which Goya began in engraving no. 37, If the disciple knows better, and which concludes in no. 42, You who cannot.