Here Comes the Bogeyman, plate three from Los Caprichos
Medium
Etching and aquatint on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 19.3 × 13.6 cm (7 5/8 × 5 3/8 in.); Plate: 21.7 × 15.3 cm (8 9/16 × 6 1/16 in.); Sheet: 30.1 × 20.5 cm (11 7/8 × 8 1/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
123764
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Plate 3 of The Caprices features a mother with her two children who are frightened by a blanketed figure of el coco (the bogeyman) in the foreground. The mother’s expression contrasts with those of her children: she smiles in gratitude and appreciation. Goya is criticizing the common practice of using fear to keep children well behaved. The print also contains a spelling error, as Goya spells viene, the Spanish verb for “to come,” incorrectly. This is a common mistake due to similarity in sounds...
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...