A Way of Flying, from Disparates, published as plate 13 in Los Proverbios (Proverbs)
1815–17, published 1864
Medium
Etching and aquatint in brown-black on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 21.8 × 32.5 cm (8 5/8 × 12 13/16 in.); Plate: 24.5 × 35.4 cm (9 11/16 × 13 15/16 in.); Sheet: 33.1 × 49.7 cm (13 1/16 × 19 5/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
129714
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Near the end of his life, Francisco de Goya created a satirical series of etchings published as Los proverbios (Proverbs). The series was also known as Los disparates, meaning “nonsense” or “follies.” Although Goya often used flying as a symbol of man’s evil and vanity, this group of prints contains some of his most mysterious and complex imagery, which he intentionally left open to many interpretations.
About the Artist
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes · 1746–1828
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was born on March 30, 1746, in the small Aragonese village of Fuendetodos, Spain, to José Benito de Goya, a master gilder, and Gracia de Lucientes. The fourth of six children in a modest lower-middle-class family, Goya received a basic education before beginning his artistic training at age 14 under the local painter José Luzán y Martínez in Zaragoza, where he sp...