They Have Flown, plate 61 from Los Caprichos (Caprices)
1797–98, published 1799
Medium
Etching, aquatint, and drypoint in brown on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 18.6 × 12.9 cm (7 3/8 × 5 1/8 in.); Plate: 21.5 × 15 cm (8 1/2 × 5 15/16 in.); Sheet: 30.1 × 20.7 cm (11 7/8 × 8 3/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
123821
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
One of Goya’s best-known publications, Los Caprichos (Caprices) is an album of 80 whimsical prints featuring biting critiques of society’s foolishness. The absurd scenario seen here suggests women’s flightiness. With a butterfly in her hair, this airheaded woman is too lightweight for any serious relationship or responsibility. Her face resembles the Duchess of Alba, María Cayetana de Silva, who was the subject of several of Goya’s paintings. While the extent of their personal relationship remai...
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...