Francisco de Goya

Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1797 - 1798
Dimensiones
218 x 152 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
26 Dec 2010 / 21 Jun 2023
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

Tragala perro. (at the bottom)

 58.  (in the upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter.

There is a state proof before the letter with burnished aquatint and drypoint in the National Library of Madrid.

In the first printings the title was misspelled, Tragala perro, until the error was corrected and the "r" was added.

A preparatory drawing for this engraving has survived.

Análisis artístico

A kneeling, supplicant man in the centre of the composition, slightly offset to the right, is surrounded by clerics. The one in the foreground, his face wild-eyed and his mouth open as if he were screaming, carries a huge syringe with which he threatens the unwary man. Another figure is holding him, while one in the background laughs, and two others at the sides seem to be watching the scene impassively. In the background, in the semi-darkness, several menacing-looking animal heads can be seen.

Goya used three-tone aquatint, which contrasts with the varnish reserves in the whites, especially in the figure holding the syringe, and he used drypoint in the veiled figure.

The Ayala manuscript describes this print as follows: "Some friars are trying to cure a poor Marcos, by hanging a relic around his neck and forcibly washing him". The one in the Prado Museum notes: "He who lives among men was irremediably stigmatised: if he wants to avoid it, he will have to go and live in the mountains, and when he is there he will also know that living alone is a geringa". Finally, the manuscript in the National Library refers to this print with the following comment: "A certain Juan Lanas is not given a bad wash by some friars who flirt with his wife and put a taleguillo around his neck as a relic to cure him and keep him quiet. The woman is seen behind covered with a veil and a monster with enormous antlers presides over the performance, with our Father Prior authorising it all".

Nigel Glendinning believes that the source of inspiration for this engraving could be found in some handwritten Tenths in Seville, of which several versions circulated, which relate a well-known anecdote of the time: the rivalry between an officer and a friar for the favours of a married woman. One day the officer goes to his beloved's house and finds her with the friar, to which the friar threatens to give her an enema, finally pulling out a pistol and having a maid give her not one but three. Thus the friar with the syringe would be identified with the friar in the story, the kneeling man with the officer and the veiled figure in the background with the woman. Behind the group stands an owl with its wings spread between the horns of a monstrous being that would symbolise the woman's husband or her lover. This creature has a large snout reminiscent of a phallus and next to it a face with a dog-like appearance and human reminiscences.

The title of the print has a double meaning, as the victim has no choice but to endure what is happening to her. The word "tragala" remained at the time an offensive term in the political vocabulary of 19th-century revolts. It was also included in liberal songs critical of the absolutist governments in power.

Conservación

The plate is in rather poor condition, with the aquatint very worn (National Chalcography, no. 229).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
  • 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
  • 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
Bibliografía
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel
    The Monk and the Soldier in Plate 58 of Goya's Caprichos
    Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
    Bibliography']['number
    LondonThe Warburg Institute
    1961
    pp.115-120
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel
    Nuevos datos sobre las fuentes del Capricho nº 58 de Goya
    Papeles de Son Armadans
    Bibliography']['number
    1963
    pp.13-29
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    pp.133-134, cat. 93
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p.183, cat. 567
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya, la década de los caprichos: dibujos y aguafuertes
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    pp.184-187, cat. 107-108
  • 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
    p.240, fig. 168
  • 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.104, cat. 147-148
  • 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.302-305
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 264
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 42-75
Enlaces externos
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