Francisco de Goya

They took her away!

Clasificación
They took her away!
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1798
Dimensiones
218 x 153 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and burnished aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
18 Nov 2010 / 20 Jun 2023
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Qué se la llevaron! (at the bottom)

8 (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

We have preserved a proof of status that must have been made prior to the handwriting that appears in pen and ink: that she is being taken away. In the print the verb tense was changed to That which was taken away. It should also be noted that, in the first proofs of the print run, the sentence ended in a full stop, which was later replaced by an exclamation mark.

There is a preparatory drawing in sanguine for this engraving in the Prado Museum. Furthermore, drawing no. 61 in Album B could be considered an antecedent for the work we are dealing with here.

 

Análisis artístico

A woman is being abducted by two figures, probably two men, whose faces we cannot see as they are wearing tunics that also cover their heads. One of them is holding her around the waist while the female figure puts her arm behind her neck to show resistance. The other grabs her legs at the ankles and restrains her. The woman's head is thrown back and her expression is one of suffering.

This is taking place at night, as can be seen from the dark sky achieved through the use of aquatint. The painter has left some lighter areas such as the central part of the woman's clothes and the heads of the two figures who are abducting her, on which the artist intends the viewer's attention to be focused.

In Ayala's manuscript it is said of this engraving that "the woman does not know how to keep, she belongs to the first one who catches her". In the Museo Nacional del Prado's manuscript it is stated that "the woman does not know how to keep, she belongs to the first one who catches her, and when she is beyond help they admire the fact that she has been taken away". Quite different, however, is the explanation given in the manuscript of the Biblioteca Nacional, which states that "an ecclesiastic who has an illicit love, looks for a scoundrel who helps him in the abduction of his beloved".

It is possible that this image has several meanings and that it refers to the love affairs that some members of the Church had despite their vow of chastity. But it is probably also a warning to women to look after their own dignity and not to put themselves in the hands of just anyone.

As in other engravings in this series and in some of the prints in The Disasters of War, Goya has depicted hooded figures completely covered and with their faces hidden, reminiscent of some of the figures in the paintings of Salvator Rosa (Naples, 1615-Rome, 1673).

The hooded figures and the depiction of the violence with which the women are treated represent a clear attempt by the Aragonese painter to approximate fear. In this image, Goya has investigated the sensations of the human being that are sometimes beyond the control of reason.

Conservación

The plate is in poor condition ( National Chalcography, no. 179).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • De grafiek van Goya
    Rijksmuseum Rijksprentenkabinet
    Amsterdam
    1970
    from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971
  • El arte de Goya
    Museo de Arte Occidental de Tokio
    Tokyo
    1971
    from 16th 1971 to January 23th 1972. Exhibited also at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, January 29th to March 15th 1972.
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • Goya dans les collections suisses
    Fundación Pierre Gianadda
    Martigny
    1982
    consultant editor Pierre Gassier. From June 12th to August 29th 1982
  • 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
  • Goya
    Nationalmuseum
    Stockholm
    1994
    consultant editors Juan J. Luna and Görel Cavalli-Björkman. From October 7th 1994 to January 8th 1995
  • 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
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • 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 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.78, cat. 43
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.177, cat. 465
  • BATICLE, Jeannine y VRIES, A.B. (comisarias)
    Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísMinistère d’Etat-Affaires culturelles y Réunion des Musées Nationaux
    1970
    p.396, fig. 465
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.29-32, cat. 17-19
  • 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.78, cat. 96
  • 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.88-91
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 245
  • 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. 31
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