Francisco de Goya

Is there no one to untie us?

Clasificación
Is there no one to untie us?
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
218 x 152 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and burnished aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
13 Jan 2011 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

¿No hay quien nos desate? (at the bottom)

 75. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

There is only one known proof prior to the letter with burnished aquatint in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. It has a handwritten title, No se puede desatar! which seems to have replaced an earlier erased one.

There are also other proofs in which the title ends in an exclamation mark instead of the question mark for which it will later be replaced.

Two preparatory drawings of this engraving  (1) and (2) are preserved in the Prado Museum.

Análisis artístico

A man and a woman are tied at the waist to the trunk of a dry tree in the middle of a scrubby field. Both struggle to free themselves; the man makes violent efforts by leaning his torso forward and she, with her legs tied at the ankles, moves to the opposite side with her arms raised. Above them flies an enormous owl with a curved beak and eyes with its wings outstretched, resting one of its talons on the woman's face with an anguished gesture.

The artist has used a single aquatint that contrasts with the reserves of varnish with which he has created the whites that illuminate the couple. This contrast will gradually fade with each print run as the aquatint wears away, but the lines drawn with the etching remain intact. The burnisher is also used on the feathers of the owl and on the female figure to achieve half-tones.

The manuscript in the Prado Museum explains this engraving as follows: "A man and a woman tied with ropes and struggling to get free and shouting to be untied in haste? Either I am mistaken or they are two forcibly married".

In this print Goya has created an allegorical image of marriages of convenience, which were very common at the time, depicting the difficulty of breaking the bonds that united the spouses. The owl, a common figure in Goyaesque iconography, alludes to all those forces that hindered the dissolution of marital errors. In Spain at the time, divorce, which had been legalised in France after the French Revolution in 1792, began to be debated. In France, divorce could be granted under seven conditions and was considered a universal right for both men and women.

The theme of arranged and unhappy marriages was also dealt with in Caprice No. 14, What a Sacrifice! and in Folly No. 7, Disorderly Folly.

Conservación

The plate is in poor condition (National Chalcography, no.246).

Exposiciones
  • 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
  • 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
  • Das Capriccio als Kunstprinzip
    Wallraf-Richartz-Museum,
    1996
    from December 8th 1996 to February 16th 1997, exhibited also in Zurich, Kunsthaus, from March 14th marzo 1997 to June 1st 1997 and in Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum mi Palais Harrach, from June 29th 1997 to September 21st 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
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • Goya. La imagen de la mujer
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2001
    from October 30th 2001 to February 10th 2002. Exhibitied also at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, March 10th to June 2nd 2002, consultant editor Francisco Calvo Serraller
  • 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
  • Hamburg
    2019
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.153, cat. 110
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.184, cat. 602
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.40-42, cat. 24-25
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    p.114, cat. 167
  • 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
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    1999
    pp.372-375
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 199
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    Bibliography']['number
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 140
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • TACK, Ifee and PISOT, Sandra
    Bibliography']['number
    HamburgHirmer
    2019
    p. 311
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Bibliography']['number
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 51
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