Francisco de Goya

Gift to the teacher

Clasificación
Gift to the teacher
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
208 x 153 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and burnished aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
19 Dec 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Obsequio á el maestro. (at the bottom)

 47. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

A preparatory drawing of this engraving is in the Prado Museum.

Análisis artístico

A group of sinister figures pay obeisance to a figure on the right-hand side of the engraving. The figure gazes down at the figure and, although his head is human, his body is that of a billy goat and is covered with hair. The sinister witches who worship him have aged and deformed faces and have brought him a human foetus as a gift. It is a coven, which is the Basque term for the places where witches held their meetings and performed their rituals.

Goya has only applied an intermediate tone of aquatint over the etching in this print. The whites of the chest of the great witch, the face of the witch carrying the foetus and the figure in the foreground contrast with the darkness of the rest of the print.

The explanations provided by the manuscripts indicate that this is a group of nuns and friars expressing their gratitude to the master who has taught them what they know.

The painter unequivocally criticised superstition and acts of witchcraft, as he did in the paintings for the Duke and Duchess of Osuna, which may predate the Caprices series slightly. This theme would continue to interest him throughout his career, when he would return to it with different, perhaps more extreme, expressive mechanisms.

Conservación

The plate is in rather poor condition ( National Chalcography, no. 218).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • 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
  • 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
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.122, cat. 84
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.182, cat. 545
  • GUARDIA PONS, Milagros
    El gran cabrón del aquelarre en Goya
    Boletín del Museo e Instituto "Camón Aznar"
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaIbercaja
    1981
    pp.23-37
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.190-191, cat. 112
  • MENA, Manuela B. y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1993
    pp.213-214, fig. 154
  • 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.98, cat. 136
  • 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.258-261
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 209
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Bibliography']['number
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 43
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