Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Painter, plate one from Los Caprichos
Medium
Etching and aquatint on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 13.6 × 11.2 cm (5 3/8 × 4 7/16 in.); Plate: 21.5 × 15 cm (8 1/2 × 5 15/16 in.); Sheet: 30.3 × 20 cm (11 15/16 × 7 7/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
44617
Art Historical Context
Behold *Francisco de Goya yientes, Painter*, the inaugural plate from Francisco José de Goya yientes's groundbreaking series *Los Caprich*, created between 1797 and 1799. This etching and aquat on cream laid paper captures Goya himself at work, a self-portrait that sets the tone for the series' bold exploration of human folly, superstition, and vices in late 18th-century Spain As a pivotal figure in the transition from Enlightenment rationalism to Romanticism,oya used these prints to critique the absurdities of his time, blending sharp satire with haunting realism. The medium—etching for prec...
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...