Blind Singer
Ca. 1824–28 (published second half of the 19th century)
Medium
Etching, aquatint, drypoint, burin on laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 7 1/2 x 4 13/16 in. (19 x 12.2 cm) Sheet: 10 3/8 x 7 5/16 in. (26.4 x 18.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927
Accession Number
27.32.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the twilight of his career, Francisco de Goya Lucientes created *Blind Singer* around 1824–28, during a period of profound personal and political turmoil in Spain. Deaf and disillusioned after the Napoleonic Wars, Goya turned to printmaking to explore the darker facets of human nature, folly, and society. This intimate etching belongs to his late series, likely *Los Proverbios* (also known as *Los Disparates*), where he depicted enigmatic scenes of eccentricity and surrealism, blending Romanticism's emotional intensity with biting satire. Goya's mastery shines through his innovative use of...
About the Artist
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) · 1746–1828
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker considered the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Rising from modest provincial origins to become First Court Painter to Charles IV, Goya's career spanned the Enlightenment's optimism and the brutal Napoleonic invasion that shattered it. A mysterious illness in 1793 left him permanently deaf and ...