Where is mum going?

A naked, obese witch is leaning on a figure who seems to be making great efforts to support her on her back. The figure has his legs spread and bent and his arms at shoulder height, with which he is holding onto the woman's feet. Next to her are two other figures who are also holding her; the one on the left is mocking her and the one on the right is sucking on one of her breasts. The whole group is supported by an owl with its wings spread in flight, while a cat in the air clings to an open umbrella. In the background, in the lower left corner, Goya has depicted a small village with houses.

The print was executed with a single, very fine-grained aquatint. In addition, Goya has made an insistent use of etching to create the sky, using very close horizontal lines to suggest the clouds in the upper left corner. He also used etching to define the figures in detail, focusing on their anatomies, which he describes in minute detail.

The manuscripts describing the Caprices series are rather sparing with regard to this print. The Prado and Ayala manuscripts both say the same thing: "Madame is hydropic and he sends her for a walk. God willing she will be relieved". The manuscript in the Biblioteca Nacional notes the following: "Lasciviousness and drunkenness in women bring with them infinite disorders and real witchcraft".

It is possible that this print is a dreamlike vision created by Goya in which he did not intend to make a criticism, but simply to offer us a fantastic image in which he has stopped to create a complex and bizarre composition. It is therefore a capriccio in the strict sense of the word, an image obtained from strange associations born of the imagination.