Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1799
Dimensiones
219 x 152 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta bruñida, punta seca y buril
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
09 Dec 2010 / 29 May 2024
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Pray for her (at the bottom).

 31. (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

In the first state proof before the additional etching, it is clear how Goya has used the two tones of aquatint. He has also left significant reserves of varnish for the white parts such as the face, trunk and leg of the young woman. He also used a few small touches of pen ink on the girl's face.

In another proof from a state prior to the handwriting, the title is handwritten. It shows how Goya dispensed with the aquatint that obscured part of the prostitute and the old woman, and reduced it considerably in the basin and the jug. Another aquatint was added, partly burnished, which gives a soft tone to the face and left hand of the girl with the comb, as well as to the face, neck, chest and raised leg of the protagonist.

In the final version, Goya used the burin to reinforce the lines of the etching in some areas, as well as the drypoint on the harlot's chest and petticoat.

Two preparatory drawings for this engraving have survived(1) and(2).

Análisis artístico

In the centre of the engraving is a young woman seated on a low stool. Behind her a maid combs her hair and an old woman seated facing the viewer holds a rosary in her hands. The young woman lifts one of her legs to put on or perhaps take off her stocking, while looking straight ahead with a pleased gesture. She has washed herself or is about to do so, as can be seen from the basin of water and the jug that Goya has placed between the young woman in the foreground and the old woman in the background.

The painter has created two focal points in the engraving, the young woman dressed in light clothes and with the clear, clean complexion of her youth, and the old woman in the background, also dressed in light clothes. The rest remain in semi-darkness and we are unable to distinguish where the scene is taking place as there are no spatial references.

The manuscripts that explain the engravings in the series of The Caprices agree on the meaning of the print we are dealing with here. The most synthetic and clearest of them all is the one in the National Library, which reads as follows: "while the whores dress and dress themselves, the procuresses pray that God will give them great fortune, and teach them certain lessons".

It is clear that Goya is once again tackling the theme of prostitution, which he will refer to repeatedly in the engravings in this series. He depicts the intimate atmosphere in which the prostitute prepares for her work under the watchful eye of her procuress. Furthermore, the nature of this relationship in which the old woman is the guardian of her protégée is also very much in evidence.

Conservación

The plate is in poor condition, with the drypoint missing and the aquatint very weakened ( National Chalcography, no. 202).

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
  • 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.
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • 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
  • Goya's Realism
    Statens Museum for Kunst
    Copenhagen
    2000
    from February 11th to May 7th 2000
  • 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
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Madrid
    2017
  • Expérience Goya
    Lille
    2021
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    p.101, cat. 66
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.180, cat. 513
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.143-147, cat. 84-87
  • 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.90, cat. 120
  • 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.188-191
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 257
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    Bibliography']['number
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 130
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
  • CALVO RUATA, José Ignacio, BORRÁS GUALIS, Gonzalo M. and MARTÍNEZ HERRANZ, Amparo
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaGobierno de Aragón y Fundación Bancaria Ibercaja
    2017
    p. 241
  • COTENTIN, Régis
    Expérience Goya (cat. expo)
    Bibliography']['number
    LilleRéunion des Musées Nationaux
    2021
    p. 93
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Bibliography']['number
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 40
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