Goya / Los Caprichos

Catalogue prepared by LUCIA P. IANNONE

AN E X H I B I T I O N FROM THE C O L L E C T I O N OF MR. A R T H U R ROSS

YALE U N I V E R S I T YART G A L L E R Y

SEPTEMBER 16 - NOVEMBER 15, 1981

 Copyright © 1981 by the Yale University Art Gallery
This catalogue was composed by Typo Art, Inc.
and the Yale University Printing Service,
plates and cover were printed by The Meriden Gravure Company
and text by Congress Printers,
bound by Mueller Trade Bindery.
 Acknowledgments

The words "rare and generous" may well describe a collector who
willingly and repeatedly parts with the objects he has gathered for his
personal pleasure. But there is no suitable way to acknowledge the
gratitude we feel towards Mr. Arthur Ross of New York City. Not
only has he lent the exquisite pre-publication set of Los Caprichos,
but he has supported the entire exhibition and its catalogue with
only one proviso: that the public be given an opportunity to enjoy
and to learn. I would like to join our Director, Alan Shestack —
himself a champion of prints for many years — in extending to Mr.
Ross our very warmest and deepest appreciation.
Not very far in the background of this exhibition was Julia Win-
penny, secretary of the Arthur Ross Foundation. Without her careful
watch over a myriad of details, this catalogue might never have been
produced. The responsibility for the exhibition and its catalogue fell
to my assistant, Lucia lannone. She managed to prepare the entire
text despite having participated in the making of two other exhibi-
tions this year. Others who generously gave of their time and their
interest were Alison Bardrick, Katherine Crawford, and Lesley Baier.
To all of these friends and colleagues goes much gratitude. Last, but
hardly least, I would like to thank our designer, Greer Allen, who has
been our ombudsman throughout this past year.

Richard S. Field
Curator of Prints,
Drawings and Photographs

3
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 Remarks of a Collector

It was the great French humanist, Andre Malraux, who said “The
Caprichos are not just illustrations, they are literature. . . . " The
earliest editions printed by Goya in 1799, of which this is one,
originally were bound by the artist and sold as a volume. They were
treated as books rather than separate works of art and had the charm
of a manuscript that could be held and enjoyed by one person. At the
same time, it made these earlier etchings somewhat inaccessible and
it was perhaps as late as the 1900s before some of these early volumes
became unbound by new collectors and the individual etchings were
publicly available. Also, the Caprichos had a large printing posthu-
mously, commencing in 1855, and this diluted public attention and
directed it away from the power and beauty of the first editions.
These reveal Goya's supreme artistry as an engraver and rank him
with Dürer, Rembrandt and Picasso as one of the great painter/en-
gravers of all time.
An interesting historical sidelight on this particular early edition
of the Caprichos is its link in a way to Lord Nelson's victory over the
French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Napoleon, in retalia-
tion, closed all European ports to the British and the only way the
British could continue to carry the war to Napoleon was to land an
expeditionary force on European soil which reached France through
Portugal and Spain. This was done under the command of the Duke
of Wellington. On his staff, there was a Lieutenant-General John
Ramsay from Scotland who acquired a very fine set of the Caprichos
while in Spain and ultimately brought it home to Scotland. This
edition remained there for many years and was acquired by the
present owner after being in the possession of only one other Euro-
pean collector.
By way of coincidence, other fine editions of Goya's works were
brought out of Spain by another member of the Duke of Wellington's
staff, Lieutenant-General Stirling. He, together with his son, Sir
William Stirling-Maxwell, formed one of the world's outstanding
Goya collections. A number of these works, after they had passed
through the hands of two prominent American collectors, have now
taken their place alongside this set of the Caprichos originally ac-
quired by Lieutenant-General Ramsay.
Along with an increasing recognition of Goya's graphic achieve-
ments, is a growing appreciation of his philosophical and social views
and their contemporary character. Selecting the name Caprichos to

5
describe these 80 prints that were combined into one set was a most
revealing step on the artist's part. The word capricho refers to the
goat cobra who scorns the huddle of sheep on the valley floor to
browse dangerously on the cliffs. These prints were the first dramatic
revelation of Goya's true insight into mankind. The scenes probe the
social and moral illnesses of man, disclosing his underlying madness
in his attachment to vices and superstitions.
With the publication of the Caprichos in 1799, his first major effort
in this form of artistic expression, Goya at the age of 53 firmly
established himself as the greatest interpreter in art of human sin and
perversion, and the sinister weaknesses of the human spirit. His
work was enlivened from time to time by wit and a sardonic view of
human frailties. He is the one artist who succeeded in interpreting
these situations to the observer's overwhelming aesthetic satisfac-
tion.
One should note, however, a lack of a certain roundness in his
views which failed to recognize the existence of at least some nobil-
ity, reasonableness and warmth in the human spirit, without which,
the human race, with all its shortcomings, would not have achieved
even its present state of imperfection.
Although Goya realized he was exposing himself to governmental
prosecution, he was determined to deliver his message to the world.
The artist wrote on the frontispiece of his bound volumes of the
Caprichos, "Universal Language." Their fame rests securely on the
artist's imagination and his mastery of this graphic form of art.

Arthur Ross

New York City

August 1, 1981

6
 Introduction

The eighty prints of Los Caprichos were etched during the years
1797-1798 by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828). Not only did they
comprise Goya's first and largest series of images, but they were his
most satiric and socially critical prints. Like many other painters
before and after him,1 it was only in the graphic arts that he gave vent
to his bitter resentment of the unenlightened, repressive and hypo-
critical forces of the contemporary social order. Because printmaking
is given to rapid execution and inexpensive mass production, it is the
ideal medium for spreading visual caricature, satire and protest to a
wide audience. The Caprichos are perhaps the most moving and
biting of all such imagery; they manifest a total mastery of idea,
draftsmanship and technique.
The present catalogue and exhibition are not intended to reveal
any new information about Goya and his work. Rather, they will
provide a rare opportunity to see the Caprichos in their entirety and
to learn something of their beauty and meaning. The purpose of this
essay is twofold. First, it will provide a general introduction to Goya
and the Caprichos. Second, it will explore the two major and dis-
tinctly divergent interpretations of the series. The more widely held
is that the Caprichos are moralising satires on society in general. The
basis for this view is a manuscript (known as the Prado manuscript)
of eighty captions corresponding to each of the images. Many believe
it to have been written by Goya and as such, consider it the most
reliable key to the meanings of the plates. Another manuscript, first
owned by the Spanish collector and dramatist Adelardo Lopez de
Ayala (1828-1879), provides a somewhat different interpretation. Its
legends, unlike those of the Prado manuscript, are explicit, often
setting up specific social and political figures or groups as targets for
Goya's satire. In this light, the Caprichos are far more trenchant
documents of political criticism.

Goya, the son of a master-gilder, received his early artistic training

in Zaragosa and Madrid. By 1771, he had entered a competition at the
Academy of Parma in Italy and won honorable mention for a painting
of Hannibal crossing the Alps. Although full of eighteenth-century
light and color as well as sharp characterization of his sitters, his
work prior to the Caprichos of 1797 was conventionally academic: a
1. Most notably, William Hogarth (English, 1697-1764) and Honoré Daumier
(French, 1808-1879).

7
set of engravings done in 1778 after paintings by Velazquez, many
church frescoes, portraits of royal officials and aristocrats, and several
designs for the Royal Tapestry Factory at Santa Barbara. It is only
after 1792-93 during which time Goya became deaf as the result of a
serious illness, that his style and vision became dramatically uncon-
ventional and explored the power of the irrational and the abstract. A
great deal has been written about how Goya's illness may have
caused him to turn from public commissions and colorful, at times
even decorative, tapestry cartoons to the more personal and somber
images that attacked the establishment which had patronised him
since 1771. Although we cannot measure the truth of this theory, we
can note that the Caprichos signified a profound change in Goya's
life and work.
In his book, Goya, The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art, Fred
Licht explores the political climate of the world of art prior to the
Caprichos. Before the intellectual and political upheavals that ac-
companied the Enlightenment and the French and American Revo-
lutions, most works of art were officially commissioned by church,
state or aristocracy. These groups, in one form or another, had for
centuries acted as the arbiters of artistic propriety and taste. By the
end of the eighteenth century, however, there was a marked decrease
in the production of art for the specific purposes of official patrons.
The artist was forced to rely increasingly on his or her inner creativity
and personal vision.2 Goya responded with the Caprichos which may
be regarded as the first successful large-scale enterprise to exhibit
such intensely imaginative and personal imagery.
Goya initiated each of the Caprichos with one or more preparatory
drawings in ink and wash or in chalk. He would then cover a copper-
plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground, dampen the drawing, wrap
it around the grounded plate and run both through the press. The
drawing would adhere to the ground, transferring the image to the
plate. Next, the figures and details were incised into the ground,
using the drawing as a guide. After placing the etched plate in acid
and taking trial proofs, Goya often added a fine-grained aquatint to
the entire plate to establish an even middle tone. In several plates,
one can clearly see where this layer of aquatint completely covers a
previously etched figure (see the three priests in the background of
plate 13, for example).
To achieve darker tones, Goya added more layers of aquatint. The
greater the number of layers and the finer the grain, the darker an area
became. One can distinguish, for example, at least three separate
layers of aquatint in plate 22. Goya worked in a negative process to
2. For this argument, see Fred Licht, Goya, The Origins of the Modern Temper in
Art (New York, Universe Books, 1979), pp. 15-16.

8
create lighter tones and highlights by burnishing or scraping areas of
aquatint.3 The resulting smoother areas hold less ink and print as
lighter tones (as in the subtle burnishing in the sleeve and lap of the
priest in the foreground of plate 13, or in the shoulder and hindquarter
of the ass in plate 38). In plate 32, on the other hand, Goya "stopped
out" (i.e. covered with acid-resistant ground) those areas on the plate
intended to be highlighted, thereby allowing the white of the paper
to act as light. Goya exploited these printmaking techniques to create
dramatic contrasts of light and dark and an almost infinite number of
halftones.
Thematically, the Caprichos reflect Goya's social milieu. In the
eighteenth century, most Spanish land was owned by a small group
of wealthy, idle aristocrats and ecclesiastics, leaving little agricul-
tural opportunity for the masses. At a time when the rest of Europe
was becoming more politically and intellectually progressive, the
Spanish government and church upheld absolutist policies and tra-
ditional values and superstitions. The Inquisition was still active,
though not as powerful a force as it had once been. Widespread
poverty appeared to be the cause of flagrant thievery and prostitu-
tion.4 It is thus hardly surprising that those groups Goya attacked
most frequently and severely were the clergy, nobility and prosti-
tutes.
There are three distinguishable sub-groups in the Caprichos Plates
5, 7, 15-17, 19-20, 27-28, 31, and 35-36 are concerned with prostitu-
tion. The "donkey" series (plates 37-42) lampoons the professions by
associating doctors, academics, artists and nobles with asses and
monkeys. The third and largest group is the series of images of
witchcraft and fantasy (plates 43-51, 56, and 59-71). Many of the
witches and demonic creatures depicted are but thinly disguised
priests and nuns performing ungodly acts. Other subjects in the
Caprichos include the Inquisition, the military, and hostile relation-
ships between the sexes.
Similar themes abound in the works of eighteenth-century English
caricaturists such as Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson, and James Gill-
ray. Goya's treatment, however, is more profoundly disillusioned.
The English artists usually made humorous images filled with witty
visual puns and grossly exaggerated figures engaged in comedic, slap-
stick activity. Even in plate 54 when Goya indulges in a somewhat
bawdy, Hogarthian juxtaposition of male genitalia with the eyes and

3. For an excellent discussion of Goya's printmaking techniques, see Tomás Har-

ris, Goya, Engravings and Lithographs (Oxford, Bruno Cassirer, 1964), vol. I, pp. 23-49.
4. For a good, brief overview of the historical context of the Caprichos, see Eleanor
Sayre, et al, The Changing Image: Prints by Francisco Goya (Boston, Museum of Fine
Arts, 1974), pp. 54-55.

9
nose of the main figure (a priest?) who wears his pants on his head
and arms, the result is not laughable. Goya's figure is pitiful, the two
men in the background who mock him are cruel. Goya refuses to
maintain a safe, respectable distance from his subject matter. s Unlike
the work of the English caricaturists, Goya's Caprichos are neither
aloof, nor lighthearted; they are angry and passionate protests against
the worst aspects of his environment.
The style of the Caprichos is one of abstraction. Goya combines
the abstraction of space, composition, line, and figural form to create
an imaginary, dream-like world, peopled with both real and fantastic
beings. In Licht's words: " Everywhere' and 'nowhere' are the elo-
quent settings of all the Caprichos."6 Often, the backgrounds are
composed only of different tones of aquatint with no indication of
either an exterior or an interior (plates 30 and 67). Even where Goya
has included pieces of furniture to suggest an interior, we usually
have no idea of the kind of room or space in which the figures have
been placed (plates 15, 54 and 58). Indeed, the layers of aquatint are
all that is necessary to create the dim, foreboding settings of most of
the Caprichos. In Love and death (plate 10), a woman holds her dying
lover who has just fought a duel for her. From the preliminary draw-
ings for this print we know that the figures lean against a high brick
wall. In the print, the structure of the brick wall has almost disap-
peared. The wall becomes simply a dark barrier of aquatint, with its
jagged edge etched against the lighter aquatint of the night sky.
Above this, another layer of aquatint, perhaps intended as a dark
cloud, hangs heavily over the scene, almost touching the shoulder of
the dying man. Goya's subtle use of aquatint layers expresses an
oppressive and sorrowful atmosphere as powerfully as do the an-
guished faces of the lovers.
Within these ambiguous, unreal spaces, the figural compositions
are masterpieces of brevity. Except for one or two plates, few details
or props are included. The number of brightly lit foreground figures is
reduced to a minimum. The main actors are often arranged in com-
pact groups of two or three, as in plates 10, 15, and 31. In other cases,
the principal figure is highlighted in the foreground while other
secondary figures are moved to the background and covered with a
light, uniform aquatint or with even, parallel etched lines (plates 13,
23 and 29, for example).
Light in the Caprichos is abstract in the sense that it never seems
to have a rational source within the image. It is often treated as a
formal device rather than a means of illuminating objects or figures.
In She fleeces him (plate 35), there appears to be a window at the
5. Licht,p.92.
6. Ibid., p. 94.

10
upper left from which shines a dim light. However, this beam of light
(articulated as a middle-tone aquatint), slants down into the room
and abruptly bends at an impossible angle in the center of the plate.
Furthermore, the highlights on the three figures bear no relation to
the light coming from the window above them.
Early in his career, Goya was heavily influenced by the graphic art
of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo who worked in Spain from 1762 until
1770. From the Italian artist Goya learned an abstract linear language
of short, curved, parallel strokes, with very few form-defining con-
tours. Later, Goya used similar linear patterns in many of the Capri-
chos. In Why hide them! (plate 30), Goya practically abandons con-
tour lines. Instead, the forms that emerge from these layers of curved,
parallel lines are abstract and unnatural. A realistic depiction of the
texture and folds of the cloak and hat would have robbed the figure of
its unsettling mixture of humor, menace and madness.
The abstraction of human form is carried further in the distortion
and grotesque exaggeration of gestures and facial features. It is this
aspect of Goya's art which most closely approaches caricature in the
traditional comic sense. Physical distortion in the Caprichos, how-
ever, is rarely comic. Goya's figures are humans who have been
subtly transformed into sub-human, animalistic, or fantastic crea-
tures. Men and women are often portrayed as asses, monkeys,
witches, or as in All will fall (plate 19) as birds. Here, two prostitutes
pose as birds in a tree to attract male "birds." Below the tree two
women pluck one of their male victims under the watchful eyes of
their procuress.
Though in many of the Caprichos we recognize individuals and
costume as belonging to Goya's own place and time, we do not see a
realistic portrayal of late eighteenth-century Spaniards. Rather,
Goya's abstract space, light and line, and his abbreviated composi-
tions conjure up an unreal world. This abstract style is an analogue
for concepts of the imagination. Each image is an emblem, an abbre-
viation for what, in the artist's mind, was a social ill. An example of
such a social blight was the power and wealth of an idle clergy. Such
an image of the church is immediately evoked in Hobgoblins (plate
49). The clothing of the three figures identifies them as monks. The
dark background, as in many of the Caprichos, suggests bleakness
and mystery. It is uncertain whether the monks are gathered outside
a wall at night, or inside a darkened room. Above and behind the
monks is a lighted, semi-circular window covered with bars. Though
conceivably this might be construed as the refectory of a monastery,
the suggestion of a prison and its connotations is all too clear. (Note
the formal similarity between the window and the archway of the
prison cell in Sleep overcomes them, plate 34.) The light between the

11
bars illuminates nothing; it is an abstract device to contrast with and
emphasize the bars and enveloping gloom. The scene is stripped of
unnecessary details. The composition is simple, but effective: two of
the monks are seated, leaving us to concentrate on the figure standing
in the center. His features are distorted; he bares pointed teeth in an
evil, wolfish grin, and brandishes a disproportionately large, gnarled,
claw-like hand. How could this ominous image summon up anything
other than a bitter indictment of the parasitic and corrupt nature of
much of the Spanish clergy?
With his abstract style, Goya presents an unreal and irrational
world. Only in such a world could light bend at impossible angles.
Only here could spatial and formal definition be blurred by layers of
rich, dark aquatint, while humans appear interchangeable with birds,
witches and monsters. The irrationality of Goya's imaginary world is
a metaphor for human irrationality in general and the cruelty of late
eighteenth-century Spanish society specifically.

How can one interpret the often puzzling images of Los Caprichos?
There are two answers to be found in the Goya literature, each based
on separate manuscripts. The Prado manuscript, as mentioned ear-
lier, supports the view that the images are only generalised indict-
ments of certain social groups and institutions; any specific refer-
ences to individuals are heavily veiled. Tomás Harris upheld this
interpretation in his catalogue raisonné, Goya, Engravings and Lith-
ographs.
Although Harris mentioned the existence of the second manu-
script, he published only the Prado captions in his book. He con-
tended that Goya was, at least indirectly, the author of the Prado
manuscript, while admitting that the original was probably not in
the artist's hand. According to Harris, the captions may have been
written by Goya's scribe, Pedro Gomez, after close consultation with
the artist, since the legends are, in some cases, similar to Goya's
notes on the preparatory drawings.7
To further his position, Harris cited the familiar passage from the
first advertisement for the Caprichos in the Diario de Madrid (Feb-
ruary 6, 1799): '". . . In none of the compositions which form part of
this collection has the author proposed to ridicule the particular
defects of any one individual . . .'"8 and from the second advertise-
ment (February 19, 1799): '"The Author, convinced that the censure
of human errors and vices can be as much the subject of painting as it
is of eloquence and poetry, has chosen for his work, themes from the
multitude of follies and wrongdoings which are common to
7. Harris, vol. I, p. 98.
8. Ibid., p. 95.

12
society. . .'." 9 The implication here is that society in general, rather
than anyone in particular, is to be satirized. In addition, Harris points
out that Goya excluded two finished plates because their imagery
was too suggestive of well-known persons. Old Woman and a Gal-
lant (Harris no. 118) appears to be an unflattering image of Queen
Maria Luisa, while Dream of Lies and Inconstancy (Harris no. 119)
depicts Goya and a two-faced Duchess of Alba (the woman with
whom the artist probably had an affair during 1796-97).10 Thus, Goya
took great care to exclude and veil any easily identified references.
Another interpretation, that of the distinguished American Goya
scholar, Eleanor Sayre, is set forth in the exhibition catalogue, The
Changing Image: Prints by Francisco Goya. Her study includes both
the Prado and the Ayala captions. The Ayala manuscript was first
published in 1887 in Goya su tiempo, su vida, sus obras (Madrid) by
Cipriano Muñoz y Manzano, Conde de la Viñaza. Its captions are
usually shorter than those of the Prado manuscript, and often boldly
identify figures as members of the Spanish nobility and clergy.
The Ayala manuscript does not have the moralising and artificially
poetic tone of the Prado manuscript. It is partly for these reasons that
Goya's authorship of both the Diario de Madrid advertisements
(cited above) and the Prado captions is questioned.11 Goya was not
well educated and had never been trained as a writer. As Sayre points
out, it would have been more likely that Goya's close friend, the
dramatist Leandro Fernández de Moratín wrote the Prado captions.12
Though Harris did not consider Goya the author of the Ayala manu-
script, the MFA catalogue states that it ". . . seems very close to what
Goya may have written and shown to trusted friends" 1 3
Another point of contention involves Goya's abrupt withdrawal of
the Caprichos from sale only two days after they had been advertised.
In 1803, Goya turned the plates and 240 sets of the Caprichos over to
the King, who then deposited them in the Real Calcografía. It is
usually assumed that Goya took these steps to avoid a confrontation
with the Inquisition. Years later, Goya wrote a letter in response to a
friend's suggestion that he put a set of the Caprichos up for sale in
Paris. Goya wrote: "'What you say about the Caprichos cannot be
done as I ceded the plates to the King, more than twenty years ago
. . . and, added to all this, I was accused by the Inquisition, nor will I
copy them because I am doing better things nowadays which will sell

9. Ibid., p. 99.
10. Cited in Harris, vol. I, p. 99 and vol. II, pp. 161-162.
11. Sayre, The Changing Image, pp. 56-57.
12. Ibid., p. 57. (Sayre cites Edith F. Helman, "The Younger Moratin and Goya,"
Hispanic Review, XXVII (1959), pp. 109-111, for this.)
13. Ibid., p. 58.

13
more readily.'"14 If in fact the Caprichos did precipitate any action by
the Inquisition, then the series must have been perceived as much
more obvious and explicit in its references and thus more in keeping
with the Ayala manuscript. According to the MFA catalogue, most of
the early Spanish collectors of the Caprichos had no difficulty recog-
nizing the targets of Goya's satire.15
Harris, however, refused to accept a threat by the Inquisition as the
explanation for Goya's withdrawal of the plates. He argued that if the
Inquisition had found the images in any way offensive, the King
would never have purchased the plates for the Calcografía. (Harris
neglected to mention that the King did not purchase the plates; Goya
donated them in return for a pension for his son. Years later, the
Calcografía would print and sell several editions of the Caprichos.)
According to Harris, Goya withdrew and later surrendered the plates
simply because they were not selling well.16 It certainly is true that
the Caprichos were not popular in Spain until later in the nineteenth
century. Only 27 sets were sold between 1799 and 1803.
One can learn a great deal from reading both manuscripts in con-
junction with each image. We have included both captions in the
following entries so that the reader may compare and decide which
yields a more suitable meaning for the individual compositions.
The Prado and the Ayala captions are very similar for many of the
plates. For the remainder, however, the manuscripts differ sharply.
For example, according to the Prado caption, Which of them is the
more overcome? (plate 27) depicts a prostitute and a young man:
"Neither one nor the other. He is a charlatan in love who says the
same to all of them, and she is thinking of giving up five appoint-
ments which she had made between 8 and 9 and it's already 7:30."
The Ayala caption tersely reads: "Goya and the Duchess of Alba."
The Prado manuscript supplies a moralising caption for Two of a
kind (plate 5): "It is often disputed whether men are worse than
women or the contrary, but the vices of the one and the other come
from bad upbringing. Wherever the men are depraved, the women are
the same. The young lady portrayed in this print is as knowing as the
young coxcomb talking to her, and as regards the two old women,
one is as vile as the other." The Ayala caption simply states: "Maria
Luísa and Godoy." (Godoy was Queen Maria Luísa's adulterous
lover.) It is not difficult to perceive the disparate views of the Capri-
chos provided by these two sets of captions.
Sayre argues persuasively that the Ayala manuscript better reflects
Goya's intended meanings because its captions are more closely
14. Cited in Harris, vol. I, p. 106.
15. Sayre, The Changing Image, p. 56.
16. Harris, vol. I, p. 106.

14
related to his preliminary drawings. One of the examples provided in
the MFA catalogue is What a tailor can do! (plate 52). The prelimi-
nary drawing shows a woman kneeling before a tree trunk draped
with a monk's habit. The Ayala caption appropriately mentions
religious worship and superstition: "Superstition makes the ignorant
mob worship a clothed tree trunk." In the finished plate, Goya added
a topknot to the hood and flying demons around the trunk to suggest
a witch and her companions. It is no longer clear that the tree is
draped like a monk.17 Neither does the accompanying Prado caption
refer to the clergy: "How often can some ridiculous creature be
suddenly transformed into a presumptuous coxcomb who is nothing
but appears to be much. That is what can be done by the ability of a
tailor and the stupidity of those who judge things by their appear-
ance."
The Ayala caption also seems far more suited to The Chinchillas
(plate 50). Here, two figures who wear heavy cloaks and large pad-
locks on their heads are fed by a figure wearing the ears of an ass. The
Prado caption provides little help in understanding the image: "He
who hears nothing, knows nothing and does nothing, belongs to the
numerous family of the Chinchillas, which has always been good for
nothing." It is only after seeing a preliminary drawing and reading
the Ayala caption that an association with the idle and parasitic
Spanish aristocracy emerges. The drawing, which bears the inscrip-
tion "Illness of mind," includes the same two figures with padlocks.
It is clear, however, from the coats-of-arms they wear instead of
clothing that they are to be identified with the nobility. Furthermore,
the scene takes place in a large, vaulted room, a place of wealth. The
Ayala manuscript reads: "The fools, which are precious to nobles,
give themselves up to idleness and superstition, and lock shut their
understanding, while they feed on their ignorance."
Even without examining preparatory drawings, the Ayala manu-
script more accurately describes many of the plates themselves. The
Prado caption describes the three monks in Hobgoblins (plate 49) as
". . . Happy, playful, obliging; a little greedy, fond of playing practical
jokes; but they are very good-natured little men." Compare this
lighthearted, though admittedly ironic tone with the opening phrases
of the Ayala caption: "The priests and friars are the true pixies of this
world. The Church, of large hand and canine tooth, embraces all that
it can. ..." The caption refers specifically to the standing monk with
sharp teeth and a large hand.
Another telling example is You understand! . . . well, as I say . . .
eh! Look out! otherwise . . . (plate 76). The central figure is an over-

17. Sayre, The Changing Image, pp. 107-108.

15
weight man dressed in military garb. He speaks to a cripple who leans
on crutches. The Prado manuscript begins: "The cockade and baton
make this stupid bore think that he is a superior b e i n g . . . he is proud,
insolent, vain with all who are his inferiors; servile and abject with
those who are his superiors." The Ayala caption is more explicit:
"The pompous military, filled with gout and ruptures(?) throw in-
sults(?) to the crippled, now that they cannot throw them to their
enemies." Here is a succinct image of an ailing, incompetent officer
who can wield power only over those who are too weak to attack
him.
There is yet another circumstance which supports the contention
that the Caprichos are, as the Ayala manuscript would have it,
dangerously explicit in their references. Goya had originally planned
to publish a set of images called Sueños, or Dreams (several prepara-
tory drawings have survived). The notion of utilizing dream images
to mask criticisms of reality has a long literary if not artistic history.
Under the guise of a dream, an artist (or author) is free to express
ideas which would otherwise be open to censure. The frontispiece to
this series was to have been The sleep of reason produces monsters
(plate 43). Indeed, some of the preliminary Sueños drawings did
inspire various plates of the Caprichos. It is significant, however,
that Goya ultimately abandoned this project. He chose not to provide
himself with such a convenient veil. Instead, he combined his dream
images of witches and demons with the more earthy species of pros-
titutes and monks. It is this reciprocity between recognizable indi-
viduals or types and the world of nightmares which underlies any
understanding of the Caprichos as a whole.

Regardless of which interpretation one chooses to accept, the Ca-

prichos are images of great beauty and power. In style and tempera-
ment, the series had a profound effect on French art of the nineteenth
century. Their combination of emotional expression and strong con-
trasts of light and dark influenced Delacroix and the French Roman-
tic school. Goya's social and political satire and protest are echoed in
the socially-conscious art of Edouard Manet and Honoré Daumier. It
is this consciousness in Goya's art which makes the Caprichos pop-
ular today, after almost 200 years. We hope that this exhibition will
present the Caprichos not only as documents of eighteenth-century
Spain, but also as one of the first successful examples of social and
political protest in the visual arts.

16
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Harris, Tomás. Goya, Engravings and Lithographs. 2 vols, Oxford,
Bruno Cassirer, 1964.
2. Licht, Fred. Goya, The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art. New York,
Universe Books, 1979.
3. y Manzano, Cipriano Muñoz, Conde de la Viñaza. Goya su tiempo, su
vida, sus obras. Madrid, 1887.
4. Poore, Charles. Goya. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939.
5. Salas, Xavier de. "Light on the Origin of Los Caprichos," Burlington
Magazine, CXXIfNov., 1979), pp. 711-716.
6. Sayre, Eleanor A., et al. The Changing Image: Prints by Francisco Goya.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1974.
7. Sayre, Eleanor A. "Eight Books of Drawings by Goya," Burlington
Magazine, CVI (Jan., 1964), pp. 19-30.

17
 Catalogue Entries
The following set of the Caprichos is on loan from Mr. Arthur Ross.
Unless otherwise noted, the prints are etchings with aquatint that is
often burnished. Catalogue references are to Tomás Harris, Goya,
Engravings and Lithographs (Oxford, Bruno Cassirer, 1964), cited as
H. According to Harris, these prints are one of several sets of "Trial
Proofs" for the Caprichos and were printed in 1799. Translations of
titles and the Prado captions are from Harris. Translations of the
Ayala captions are from Eleanor Sayre, et aL, The Changing Image:
Prints by Francisco Goya (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1974), and
Charles Poore, Goya (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939), or
provided by Marcus Rivera, Yale College, Class of 1983. Dimensions
of platemarks are given, height before width, in millimeters (and
inches).

1 Franco Goya y Lucientes, Pintor

216 x 151 (8 1/2 x 5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin
H.36
P R A D O : no commentary.
A Y A L A : True portrait of the artist with satirical expression.

2 They say yes and give their hand to the first comer
215 x 152 (8 1/2 x 6)
H.37
P R A D O : The readiness with which many women are inclined to get
married, hoping thereby to be able to live in greater liberty.
A Y A L A : A reprimand of heedless marriages, like those of princesses
and the maids of honor to the queen.

3 Here comes the bogey-man

215 x 152(8 1/2 x 6)
H.38
P R A D O : Lamentable abuse of early education. To cause a child to
fear the bogey-man more than his father and so make it afraid of
something that does not exist.
A Y A L A : Mothers place fear in their children with the tale of the
bogey-man, so that they can speak to their lovers.

18
 &*

& t& /a. / v/fa/s/s )

4. Nanny's boy
The children of nobles are stuffed with food, suck their fingers, and are
always big babies, even after their beards grow, and thus they need
their lackeys to pull them around with lead strings.
 11.
mm

C//^£/fr7f/?6V ^x #/ <Z4St<9.

11. Lads making ready

Their faces and clothes make it clear what they are.
 12.

c T'( /&•%,&
s&zti /jk
dt t//s/?Ssj
dfo'ttfrj'.

12. Out hunting for teeth

Hanged men's teeth are extremely powerful for sorcery. What won't a
woman in love do!
 13.

•••••••••••••l^l^^MMHi^HBHH

<"jfa/t
^jfa/S m//<*'/t/kt.
M//S'/S/k>.

13. They are hot

Stupid monks stuff themselves at meals in their refectories and laugh at
the world; how could they be anything but hot [in heat]!
 JS.

/"" / / xy
/J I/
^/#s/rts
£/#//rtt (( ///v>vv/
///*/Y/// ..

19. All will fall

And to think that the ones who are going to fall don't learn from the
example of those who have fallen. But, there's no help
for it, ALL WILL FALL.
 '."#2:"

'£)&/'w^/fas.x
' (S/?7r?V*S'//'/SS X

22. Poor little girls!

Poor harlots are sent to prison—rich ones go free.
 »»
14

C- }<9/?///s<? tYrwrt/p.

24. Nothing could be done about it

Covered with a cone shaped cap; she was poor and ugly. How could there be
a remedy?
 2£

:
^/
's/ S?s??
fa??^?&/t'':*''*fcvrr/2&>.
*''-&W?2& Z&.

26. They've already got a seat

The only way giddy-headed girls will settle down is to land
a chair on their heads.
 M.
mam

f ^v'//<'/#/
*,'S( /Sf'sft/
s '
/w
/y//y s'///f
s'///f

31. She prays for her

A mother who becomes procuress of her own daughter, prays to God that
He may give her good fortune and spare her harm
from surgeons and constables.
 4.1.

/ 1 cmas ni menos

41. Neither more nor less

He is quite right to have his portrait painted; thus those who do not know
him and have not seen him will know who he is.
 '43

43. The sleep of reason produces monsters

Fantasy deserted by reason produces monsters, and united with it,
is mother of the arts.
 4&

jt^/^/'S/^SY/SS, /.

49. Hobgoblins
Now this is another kind of people. Happy, playful, obliging; a little greedy,
fond of playing practical jokes; but they are
very good-natured little men.
 • c52.

<^/& 0&&/&&&& i&?? cJa//??

l^KC/tf^//^'

52. What a tailor can do!

Superstition makes the innocent mob worship a clothed tree trunk.
 5%

s^'r.srj/ss /{/ ////ss'^/(').

55. Until death

She is quite right to make herself look pretty. It is her seventy-fifth
birthday, and her little girl friends are coming to see her.
 JA
59.
aBBE£3HSft

. / s/•//••// //<> ,/e /Y?/~/ f

59. And still they don't go!

Mortals mired in the slime of their own vices, see that the stone [trap] of
death is about to fall on them and still they
do not mend their ways.
 7£
mm

///////// ///'sV
^ ///////// /V/W ,, S/Sl'
S/<>,/ //S///(?j.
//S///(?j.

71. When day breaks we will be off

The procuresses are discussing at night how they can get more babies on
their string.
4 Nanny's boy
206 x 149 (8 1/8 x 5 15/16)
H.39
P R A D O : Negligence, tolerance and spoiling make children lazy and
insufferable. They grow up and yet remain childish. Thus is nanny's
little boy.
A Y A L A : The children of nobles are stuffed with food, suck their
fingers, and are always big babies, even after their beards grow, and
thus they need their lackeys to pull them around with lead strings.

5 Two of a kind
197 x 149 (7 3/4 x 5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H.40
P R A D O : It is often disputed whether men are worse than women or
the contrary, but the vices of the one and the other come from bad
upbringing. Wherever the men are depraved, the women are the
same. The young lady portrayed in this print is as knowing as the
young coxcomb talking to her, and as regards the two old women,
one is as vile as the other.
A Y A L A : María Luisa and Godoy.

6 Nobody knows himself

215 x 152(8 1/2 x 6)
H.41
P R A D O : The world is a masquerade. Face, dress and voice, all are
false. All wish to appear what they are not, all deceive and do not
even know themselves.
A Y A L A : The world is a masquerade; the face, the dress, and the
voice—all is false. An effeminate general lavishes attention on a lady
who stands in front of other cuckolds.

7 Even thus he cannot make her out

197 x 149( 7 3/4 x 5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H.42
P R A D O : How can he make her out? In order to know what she is, a
monocle is not enough; judgment and experience of the world are
needed and these are precisely what this poor gentleman is lacking.
A Y A L A : In order to know what it is, a monocle is not enough; one
needs good sense.

19
 8 They carried her off!
214x151(87/16x515/16)
H.43
P R A D O : The woman who cannot take care of herself belongs to the
first who seizes her, and when the mischief is done, people are
surprised that she has been carried off.
A Y A L A : The woman who cannot take care of herself belongs to the
first who seizes her.

9 Tantalus
206 x 149(8 1/16 x 5 15/16)
H.44
P R A D O : If he were a better lover and less of a bore, she would revive.
A Y A L A : If he were a better lover she would revive. This applies to
elderly gentlemen who marry young ladies.

10 Love and death

215x151(81/2 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H.45
P R A D O : See here a Calderonian lover who, unable to laugh at his
rival, dies in the arms of his beloved and loses her by his daring. It is
inadvisable to draw the sword too often.
A Y A L A : It is not a good idea to draw one's sword too often. Passions
lead to quarrels and duels.

11 Lads making ready

216 x 153(8 1/2 x 6)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H.46
P R A D O : Their faces and clothes make it clear what they are.
A Y A L A : The Andalusian smugglers, near a pathway, become
bandits.

12 Out hunting for teeth

215x150(81/2x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H.47
P RA D O : The teeth of a hanged man are very efficacious for sorcer-
ies; without this ingredient there is not much you can do. What a pity
the common people should believe such nonsense.
A YA LA : Hanged men's teeth are extremely powerful for sorcery.
What won't a woman in love do!

20
13 They are hot
213x152(87/16x6)
H.48
P R A D O : They are in such a hurry to gobble it down that they
swallow it boiling hot. Even in pleasure, temperance and moderation
are necessary.
A Y A L A : Stupid monks stuff themselves at meals in their refectories
and laugh at the world; how could they be anything but hot [in heat]!

14 What a sacrifice!
198 x 149(7 13/16 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H.49
P R A D O : That's how things are! The fiance is not very attractive,
but he is rich, and at the cost of the freedom of an unhappy girl, the
security of a hungry family is acquired. It is the way of the world.
A Y A L A : That's how things are! The fiance is not very attractive but
he is rich; at the expense of the liberty of an unhappy child he buys,
at times, [with] his aid—a hungry family

15 Pretty teachings
215 x 151(8 1/2 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H.50
P R A D O : The advice is worthy of her who gives it. The worst of it is
that the girl will follow it absolutely to the letter. Unhappy the man
who gets anywhere near her.
A Y A L A : The advice is worthy of her who gives it; what is worse is
that the young lady achieves it to the letter. Wretched is the man who
is burdened with her.

16 For heaven's sake: and it was her mother

199 x 149(7 13/16 x 5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H.51
P R A D O : The young woman left her home as a little girl. She did her
apprenticeship at Cadiz, she came to Madrid: there she won the
lottery. She goes down to the Prado, and hears a grimy, decrepit old
woman begging her for alms; she sends her away, the old woman
persists. The fashionable young woman turns around and finds—who
would have thought it—that the poor old woman is her mother.
A Y A L A : She left her home as a little girl, acquired her apprentice-
ship in Cadiz, came to Madrid, and has got her work cut out for her.

21
 But there are also daughters that never get to know their mothers,
that walk the streets, begging alms.

17 It is nicely stretched
215 x 151 mm(8 1/2 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H. 52
P R A D O : Oh! The bawdy old woman is no fool! She knows quite
well what is wanted, and that the stockings must fit tightly.
A Y A L A : There can be nothing lower than a prostitute. Aunt Curra
knows full well the profitable advantage of well-stretched stockings.

18 And his house is on fire

215 x 152(8 1/2 x 6).
H. 53
P R A D O : It will not occur to him to take off his breeches or to stop
talking to the candle, until the local fire brigade freshens him up.
Wine can do as much as that.
A Y A L A : An old man burning with lust can't manage to get his
breeches on or off.

19 All will fall

217x144(8 1/2x5 11/16)
H. 54
P R A D O : And those who are about to fall will not take warning from
the example of those who have fallen! But nothing can be done about
it: all will fall.
A Y A L A : All kinds of ugly birds, soldiers, civilians, monks, flutter
about a lady, half-hen; they fall and the women make them vomit,
and pull out their guts.

20 There they go plucked

216x151(81/2x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H. 55
P R A D O : If they have already been plucked, get them out: there will
be others coming along.
A Y A L A : Once they've been plucked the ugly birds are driven out
with blows of the broom; one comes down lame and with a poultice
on, and two very reverend fathers, with their rosaries hanging from
their belts, hold up the rear and enjoy the abuse.

22
21 How they pluck her!
215 x 146(8 1/2 x 5 3/4)
H. 56
P R A D O : Hens (pretty lasses) also encounter birds of prey to pluck
them and that is why the saying goes: you'll get as good as you give.
A Y A L A : The judges protect the scriveners and constables so that
they may rob the public women without punishment.

22 Poor little girls!

216 x 149(8 1/2 x 5 15/16)
H. 57
P R A D o : They are going to mend these tattered women; take them
in as they have been getting loose for long enough.
A Y A L A : Poor harlots are sent to prison—rich ones go free.

23 Those specks of dust

215 x 148(8 1/2 x 5 7/8)
Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin
H. 58
P R A D O : For shame! To treat in this way an honorable woman who
for a trifle served everyone so diligently, so usefully! For shame!
A Y A L A : An auto-da-fe. A mob of stupid priests and monks feast on
such performances. Perico the cripple who gave powders [magic] to
lovers.

24 Nothing could be done about it

216x151(8 1/2x5 15/16)
H. 59
P R A D O : They are persecuting this saintly woman to death! After
having signed her death sentence, they take her out in triumph and if
they do it to insult her they are wasting time. No one can shame
someone who has nothing to be ashamed of.
A Y A L A : Covered with a cone-shaped cap; she was poor and ugly.
How could there be a remedy.

25 Yes he broke the pot

206x151(81/16x5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H. 60
P R A D O : The son is mischievous and the mother bad tempered.
Which is worse?
A Y A L A : Hot-tempered mothers beat up their children whom they
value less than a poor jug.

23
26 They've already got a seat
2 1 5 x 1 5 1 ( 8 1 / 2 x 5 15/16)
H.61
P R A D O : If conceited girls want to [show they] have a seat, there is
nothing better than to put it on their head.
A Y A L A : Giddy-headed girls will settle down when a seat is landed
on their heads.

27 Which of them is the more overcome?

195x149(711/16x5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H. 62
P R A D O : Neither one nor the other. He is a charlatan in love who
says the same to all of them, and she is thinking of giving up five
appointments which she had made between 8 and 9 and it's already
7:30.
A Y A L A : Goya and the Duchess of Alba.

28 Hush
216x152(8 1/2x6)
Etching, aquatint and burin
H.63
P R A D O : An excellent mother to trust with a confidential commis-
sion.
A Y A L A : The ladies of distinction, at times, value themselves
against those old wretched women that stand at the doors of the
Churches, to receive tickets of love [money].

29 That certainly is being able to read

215x147(8 1/2x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H. 64
P R A D O : They are combing his hair, they are putting on his shoes,
he is sleeping and he is studying. No one shall say that he is not
making the most of his time.
A Y A L A : The Ministers await the last hour to learn about the trade.
This they comb through, wedge through, and sleep on. Who disap-
proves of their time?

30 Why hide them?

217x152(8 1/2x6)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H.65

24
 P R A D O : The answer is easy. The reason he doesn't want to spend
them and does not spend is because although he is over eighty and
can't live another month, he still fears that he will live long enough
to lack money. So mistaken are the calculations of avarice.
A Y A L A : Avaricious bishop. In vain he hides his money bags, sur-
rounded by nephews and other sextons.

31 She prays for her

206 x 151(8 1/16 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin
H.66
P R A D O : And she does well to do so, that God may send her luck
and keep her from harm and from surgeons and policemen and make
her as dexterous and wide awake and willing as her mother who is in
heaven.
A Y A L A : A mother, who becomes procuress of her own daughter,
prays to God that He may give her good fortune and spare her harm
from surgeons and constables.

32 Because she was susceptible

215 x 151( 8 1/2 x 5 15/16)
Aquatint
H. 67
P R A D O : It had to happen. The world has its ups and downs. The life
she was leading could end in no other way.
A Y A L A : Castillo's woman. Reckless girls end up in and give birth
in prison because they were too willing.

33 To the Count Palatine or Count of the Palate

215x150(8 1/2x5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin
H.68
P R A D O : In all sciences there are quacks who know everything
without having studied a word and have a remedy for everything. You
should not trust a word they say. The really wise man is always wary
of making predictions: he promises little and accomplishes a lot; but
the Count Palatine accomplishes nothing of what he promises.
A Y A L A : The charlatans and dentists sell their false drugs well,
misleading Counts and Marquises.

34 Sleep overcomes them

214x151(87/16x5 15/16)
H. 69

25
 P R A D O : Don't wake them! Sleep is perhaps the only happiness of
the wretched.
A Y A L A : There is no need to awaken them; maybe sleep is the only
happiness that the wretched have.

35 She fleeces him

214 x 151(8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
H. 70
P R A D O : They shave him close and fleece him. It is his own fault for
putting himself in the hands of such a barber.
A Y A L A : They abrade and excoriate his skin. The blame falls on the
man who allows himself to be shaved by such barbers.

36 A bad night
214 x 151(8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
H. 71
P R A D O : Gadabout girls who don't want to stay at home, risk expos-
ing themselves to these hardships.
A Y A L A : Business is bad when the wind, and not money, lifts the
skirts of good young women.

37 Might not the pupil know more?

214 x 151(8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint and burin
H. 72
P R A D O : One cannot say whether he knows more or less; what is
certain is that the master is the most serious-looking person who
could possibly be found.
A Y A L A : The dim-witted teachers can only bring up children which
have the likeness of a small ass.

38 Bravo!
216x151(8 1/2 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H. 73
P R A D O : If ears were all that were needed to appreciate it, no one
could listen more intelligently; but it is to be feared that he is
applauding what is soundless.
A Y A L A: If ears were enough to understand it, no one is better
endowed.

26
39 And so was his grandfather
214x151(87/16x515/16)
Aquatint
H. 74
P R A D O : This poor animal has been driven mad by Geneologists and
heralds. He's not the only one.
A Y A L A : To this poor animal, the lineages have gone crazy.

40 Of what ill will he die?

213x150(83/8x5 15/16)
H. 75
P R A D O : The doctor is excellent, pensive, considerate, calm, seri-
ous. What more can one ask for?
A Y A L A : The doctor is excellent, pensive and calm.

41 Neither more nor less

198x149(713/16x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin
H. 76
P R A D O : He is quite right to have his portrait painted; thus those
who do not know him and have not seen him will know who he is.
A Y AL A : Mr. Golilla ["golilla" also means "magistrate"] does well
in making a self portrait, hence, others who have never seen him will
know who he was.

42 Thou who canst not

214x151(8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
H. 77
P R A D O : Who would not say that these two cavaliers are cavalry
(riding beasts)?
A Y A L A : The upper class takes on the burden of society, or the dim-
witted do.

43 The sleep of reason produces monsters

213x151(8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
H. 78
P R A D O : Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible
monsters: united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the
source of their wonders.
A Y A L A : Fantasy, deserted by reason produces monsters, and united
with it, is mother of the arts.

27
44 They spin finely
215 x 150(8 1/2 x 5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin
H. 79
P R A D O : They spin finely and the devil himself will not be able to
undo the warp which they contrive.
A Y A L A : The infamous procurers go into such close detail that not
even the devil can undo the schemes that they invent for children.

45 There is plenty to suck

215x150(81/2x5 15/16)
H. 80
P R A D O : Those who reach eighty suck little children; those under
eighteen suck grown-ups. It seems that man is born and lives to have
the substance sucked out of him.
A Y A L A : It seems as if man is born to be consumed. The procurers
have a good account of the baskets of children, that were contrived
through their means or were disgraced with their abortions.

46 Correction
213 x 147(83/8 x 5 3/4)
H.81
P R A D O : Without correction and censure one cannot get on in any
faculty, and that of witchcraft needs uncommon talent, application,
maturity, submission and docility to the advice of the great Witch
who directs the seminary of Barahona.
A Y A L A : Tribunal of the Inquisition. Man is sometimes good or bad
by mimicry or imitation.

47 A gift for the master.

215 x 148(8 1/2 x 5 7/8)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H. 82
P R A D O : That is quite right; they would be ungrateful pupils not to
visit their professor to whom they owe everything they know in their
diabolical science.
A Y A L A : Friars and nuns are the best trouble-makers.

48 Tale-bearers—blasts of wind
205 x 150(8 1/16 x 5 15/16)
H. 83
P R A D O : The tale-bearing witches are the most irritating in all

28
 witchcraft and the least intelligent in that art; if they really knew
something they wouldn't blast it about.
A Y A L A : Auricular confession. Tale-bearing witches are the most
irritating of all witches.

49 Hobgoblins
214 x 151(87/16 x 5 15/16)
H.84
P R A D O : Now this is another kind of people. Happy, playful, oblig-
ing; a little greedy, fond of playing practical jokes; but they are very
good-natured little men.
A Y A L A : The priests and friars are the true pixies of this world. The
Church, of large hand and canine tooth, embraces all that it can. The
friar makes an uproar of merriment, dips sop in wine, whilst he rests,
more savage and sanctimonious, covers his provisions with his holy
sackcloth, and conceals his wine.

50 The Chinchillas
205 x 148(8 1/16 x 5 7/8)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H.85
P R A D O : He who hears nothing, knows nothing and does nothing,
belongs to the numerous family of the Chinchillas, which has always
been good for nothing.
A Y A L A : The fools, which are precious to nobles, give themselves
up to idleness and superstition, and lock shut their understanding,
while they feed on their ignorance.

51 They spruce themselves up

211 x 148 (8 5/16 x 5 7/8)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H. 86
P R A D O : This business of having long nails is so pernicious that it is
forbidden even in Witchcraft.
A Y A L A : Crooks excuse and cover up for each other.

52 What a tailor can do!

215x150(81/2x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin
H.87
P R A D O : How often can some ridiculous creature be suddenly trans-
formed into a presumptuous coxcomb who is nothing but appears to

29
 be much. That is what can be done by the ability of a tailor and the
stupidity of those who judge things by their appearance.
A Y A L A : Superstition makes the ignorant mob worship a clothed
tree trunk.

53 What a golden beak!

216x151(8 1/2 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H. 88
P R A D O : This looks a bit like an academic meeting. Perhaps the
parrot is speaking about medicine? However, don't believe a word he
says. There is many a doctor who has a 'golden beak' when he is
talking, but when he comes to prescriptions, he's a Herod; he can
ramble on about pains, but can't cure them: he makes fools of sick
people and fills the cemeteries with skulls.
A Y A L A : Plagiarist orators with the auditory of fools.

54 The shamefaced one

216x151(81/2x515/16)
H. 89
P R A D O : There are men whose faces are the most indecent parts of
their whole bodies and it would be a good thing if those who have
such unfortunate and ridiculous faces were to put them in their
breeches.
A Y A L A: The Sodomites are in the habit of having shame by the
handful. There are men whose faces are the most obscene part of
their entire body, and it would be better if they placed it in their
trousers.

55 Until death
216 x 151(8 1/2x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H.90
P R A D O : She is quite right to make herself look pretty. It is her
seventy-fifth birthday, and her little girl friends are coming to see
her.
A Y A L A : The old Duchess of Osuna. She does a good job of making
herself look beautiful. This is her day, on which she is 75 years old,
and her friends are coming to greet her.

30
56 To rise and to fall
215x150(81/2x515/16)
H.91
P R A D O : Fortune maltreats those who court her. Efforts to rise she
rewards with hot air and those who have risen she punishes by
downfall.
A Y A L A : Prince of Peace. Lust raises him by his legs; his head is
being filled with smoke and wind, and he discharges flashes of light-
ning against his rivals.

57 The filiation
214 x 151(8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
H.92
P R A D O : Here is a question of fooling the fiance by letting him see,
through her pedigree, who were the parents, grandparents, great-
grandparents and great-great-grandparents of the young lady. And
who is she? He will find that out later.
A Y A L A : The lover is cajoled with the geneology of the young lady's
parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. But who is she? Later
we shall see.

58 Swallow it dog
214 x 150(8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H.93
P R A D O : He who lives amongst men will be irremediably vexed. If
he wants to avoid it he will have to go and live in the mountains, but
when he is there he will discover that to live alone is vexatious.
A Y A L A : Some friars attempt to cure a poor man named Marcos by
adorning him with a relic and casting sharp pains upon his neck.

59 And still they don't go!

215x150(8 1/2x515/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H.94
P R A D O : He who does not reflect on the inconstancy of fortune
sleeps peacefully while surrounded by dangers; he does not know
how to avoid the danger which threatens him, and there is no misfor-
tune which does not surprise him.
A Y A L A : Mortals mired in the slime of their vices, see that the stone
[trap] of death is about to fall on them and still they do not mend their
ways.

31
60 Trials
208 x 164(8 3/16 x 6 1/2)
Etching, aquatint and burin
H. 95
P R A D O : Little by little she is making progress. She is already mak-
ing her first steps and in time she will know as much as her teacher.
A Y A L A : same as Prado.

61 They have flown

214 x 150(8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H. 96
P R A D O : The group of witches which serves as pedestal for this
fashionable lady is put there for ornament rather than for use. There
are heads so full of inflammable gas that they need neither balloons
nor witches to make them fly.
A Y A L A : The Duchess of Alba standing on the heads of three toreros.

62 Who would have thought it!

206 x 151(8 1/16x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H. 97
P R A D O : See here is a terrible quarrel as to which of the two is more
of a witch. Who would have thought that the screechy one and the
grizzly one would tear each other's hair in this way? Friendship is the
daughter of virtue. Villains may be accomplices but not friends.
A Y A L A : Two old women, given up to lasciviousness are devoured
by the monsters.

63 Look how solemn they are!

212x161(83/8x63/8)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H. 98
P R A D O : The print shows that these are two witches of means and
position who have gone out to take a little exercise on horseback.
A Y A L A : Two beastly characters are riding horseback. One re-
nowned for godliness, the other for thievishness.

64 Bon voyage
215x151(81/2x515/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H. 99

32
 P R A D O : Where is this infernal company going, filling the air with
noise in the darkness of night? If it were daytime it would be quite a
different matter and gun shots would bring the whole group of them
to the ground; but as it is night, no one can see them.
A Y A L A : Vices fly with their wings spread over the region of igno-
rance, each holding the other up.

65 Where is mother going?

206x165(81/16x61/2)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H. 100
P R A D O : Mother has dropsy and they have sent her on an outing.
God willing, she may recover.
A Y A L A : same as Prado.

66 There it goes
208x164(83/16x61/2)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H. 101
P R A D O : There goes a witch, riding on the little crippled devil. This
poor devil, of whom everyone makes fun, is not without his uses at
times.
A Y A L A : There goes one riding a crippled devil who is useful at
times.

67. Wait til you've been anointed

216x150(8 1/2x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H. 102
P R A D O : He has been sent out on an important errand and wants to
go off half-anointed. Even among the witches, some are hare-brained,
impetuous, mad-cap, without a scrap of judgment. It's the same the
world over.
A Y A L A : Extreme Unction.

68 Pretty teacher!
210x148(81/4x57/8)
Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint
H. 103
P R A D O : The broom is one of the most necessary implements for
witches; for besides being great sweepers, as the stories tell, they may
be able to change the broom into a fast mule and go with it where the
Devil cannot reach them.

33
 A Y A L A : For some the broom serves as a she-mule, too: they teach
young girls to fly off over the world.

69 Blow
211x147(85/16x53/4)
Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin
H. 104
P R A D O : No doubt there was a great catch of children the previous
night. The banquet which they are preparing will be a rich one: Bon
appetit.
A Y A L A : Children are the object of a thousand obscenities for the
aged and the depraved.

70 Devout profession
207x165(81/8x61/2)
Etching, aquatint and drypoint
H. 105
P R A D O : Will you swear to obey and respect your masters and
superiors, to sweep the garrets, to spin tow, to ring bells, to howl, to
yell, to cook, to grease, to suck, to bake, to blow, to fry, everything
and whatever time you are ordered to? "I swear."Well then, my girl,
you are now a witch. Congratulations.'
A Y A L A : Ecclesiastics have to, coming out of nothing [inner obliv-
ion], rise up to the highest dignitaries, gripping firmly the sacred
books.

71 When day breaks we will be off

198 x 149(7 13/16 x 5 15/16)
H. 106
P R A D O : Even if you hadn't come you wouldn't have been missed.
A Y A L A : The procuresses are discussing at night how they can get
more babies on their string.

72 You will not escape

213x150(83/8x515/16)
H. 107
P R A D O : She who wants to be caught never escapes.
A Y A L A : La Duten pursued by Godoy, Duro, and llore [ ? ].

73 It is better to be lazy
214x149(87/16x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H. 108

34
 P R A D O : If the more he works the less he likes it, he is quite right to
say, It is better to be lazy.
A Y A L A : More women want to spend time loafing about, instead of
disentangling skein and working in the house.

74 Don't scream stupid

213 x 149(8 3/8 x 5 15/16)
H. 109
P R A D O : Poor Paquilla! She was looking for the footman and runs
into the goblin, but don't be afraid: it's plain that Martinico is in a
good mood and won't do her any harm.
A Y A L A : The unappealing and pious give themselves up to the friars
or the scarecrow that enters in through the window.

75 Can't anyone untie us?

214x150(87/16x5 15/16)
H. 110
P R A D O : A man and a woman tied together with ropes, struggling to
get loose and crying out to be untied quickly? Either I am mistaken,
or they are two people who have been forced to marry.
A Y A L A : Two married in forced union; or maintaining a common
law marriage.

76 You understand? . . . well, as I say . . . eh! Look out! otherwise . . .

214x150(87/16x5 15/16)
H. Ill
P R A D O : The cockade and baton make this stupid bore think that
he is a superior being, and he abuses the office entrusted to him to
annoy everyone who knows him; he is proud, insolent, vain with all
who are his inferiors; servile and abject with those who are his
superiors.
A Y A L A : The pompous military, filled with gout and ruptures[?]
throw [insults?] to the crippled, now that they cannot throw them to
their enemies.

77 What one does to another

214x151(87/16x5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin
H. 112
P R A D O : It is the way of the world. People jest and fight with one
another. He who yesterday played the part of the bull, today plays the

35
 caballero en plaza . Fortune presides over the show and allots the
parts according to the inconstancy of her caprices.
A Y A L A: Even when men are on their last legs, they still play at
bullfighting and use others as bulls.

78 Be quick, they are waking up

214x150( 8 7 /16 x 5 15 / 16)
H. 113
P R A D O : The goblins are the most industrious and obliging people
there are. As the maid keeps them happy, they scour the pot, cook
the vegetables, wash up, sweep and hush the child. It has often been
disputed whether they are devils or not; don't let us deceive our-
selves. Devils are those who spend their time doing harm, or hinder-
ing others from doing good, or doing nothing at all.

79 No one has seen us

214x151( 8 7/16 x 5 15/16)
Etching, burnished aquatint and burin
H. 114
P R A D O : And what does it matter if the goblins go down to the cellar
and have four swigs, if they have been working all night and have left
the scullery like gleaming gold?
A Y A L A : The abbots and friars throw feasts for themselves, and later
feign fixed customs.

80 It is time
216 x 151 ( 8 1/2 x 5 15 /16)
Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin
H. 115
P R A D O : Then, when dawn threatens, each one goes on his way.
Witches, Hobgoblins, apparitions and phantoms. It is a good thing
that these creatures do not allow themselves to be seen except by
night and when it is dark! Nobody has been able to find out where
they shut themselves up and hide during the day. If anyone could
catch a denful of Hobgoblins and were to show it in a cage at 10
o'clock in the morning in the Puerto del Sol, he would need no other
inheritance.
A Y A L A : The Bishops and Prependaries lead a life which is idle and
easy, stretching one's limbs, snoring and singing without being of
any use to their fellow creatures.

36
AN E X H I B I T I O N FROM THE C O L L E C T I O N OF MR. A R T H U R ROSS

YALE UNIVERSITY ART G A L L E R Y

SEPTEMBER 16 - N O V E M B E R 15, 1981