Original etching, aquatint and drypoint on paper from ‘Los Caprichos’

From the fifth edition of 210, published between 1881-1886 by the Calcografia for the Real Academia

This artwork is framed

Image size: 150 x 205 mm

Frame size: 335 x 410 mm

Goya’s commentary:

It is often disputed whether men are worse than women or the contrary, but the vices of the one and the other come from bad upbringing. Wherever the men are depraved, the women are the same. The young lady portrayed in this print is as knowing as the young coxcomb talking to her, and as regards the two old women, one is as vile as the other.

Los Caprichos:

The suite was first published in 1799 and Goya is thought to have sold only 27 copies before withdrawing it from circulation due to the Inquisition. Most of the remaining copies of the edition were later purchased by King Charles IV of Spain. The work was an enlightened, tour-de-force critique of 18th century Spain, and humanity in general. The informal style as well as the depiction of contemporary society found in the Caprichos, makes them and Goya himself, a precursor to the modernist movement almost a century later.