Student / frog

See Woman / Snake

In this drawing Goya depicted a young man dressed as a student, in an attitude of shouting with his arms outstretched, standing before a mirror in which is reflected the figure of a giant frog in the same posture as himself. According to the great Swiss physiognomist Johann Kaspar Lavater's four-volume work Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe, written between 1775 and 1778, the frog was the prototype of disgusting bestiality. It is undoubtedly possible that Goya was familiar with this work, which may have served as a reference for him, through a French edition. According to Folke Nördstrom, the scene represents the phlegmatic temperament.

The similarity between the two figures is evident, especially in the student's gesture, which is repeated in the animal. To further emphasise the resemblance between the two, Goya visually linked them through the parallel lines that he drew beside the frog, simulating a marshy ground, and which continue on the lower part of the human figure.

On the reverse of this drawing, which is mainly done in pen and is characterised by its masterly and modern abbreviated technique, Goya produced another entitled Figure with chastity belts, sketches of two figures and frog.

Separate from the Magic Mirror series, although related to it, there is another drawing in which the protagonists are two giant humanised frogs: Human Frogs Embracing