Goya's Prison: - Red Square Design

Obsequio á el Maestro is Plate 47 of Los Caprichos, a set
of eighty prints executed by Goya in 1797 and 1798. The
series, published in 1799 was the outcome of Goya’s intense
exploration of his imagination, as opposed to seeking physical
truth. This in itself was not new, although other artists who had
inquired into the concept of ‘flight of fancy’ had usually applied
it to creating architectural fantasies, such as the monumental
Roman ruins (caprices) of French artist Hubert Robert. (Fig.26)
Goya was certainly aware too of the light hearted capricci of
Tiepolo, through the Italian’s presence at the Spanish court,
and several prints from Piranesi’s series of imaginary prisons
were in Goya’s own collection. What was new was that
Goya chose to use the concept of capricho to expose the
foolishness he saw in Spanish society at that time. Highlighting
the universal follies of humanity, the series contains various
grotesque caricatures of humanity.
Obsequio á el Maestro pictures a group of witches surrounding
a senior witch on the right; one witch offers to her master an
undersized dead baby. The women present the baby to their
teacher, from whom they have learnt everything. Like many
plates of the Caprichos series, the image is dark and holds
suggestions of evil; the hunched figures look goblin like and
tormented.
The image of kneeling figures draws parallel to the clergy;
Goya appears to compare the witch with a grovelling postulant
kissing a cardinal’s ring. He seems to suggest that witches
and friars are one and the same and that there are definite
likenesses between witchcraft and the activities of the clergy.
It is worth noting that while Goya and his wife Josefa had
seven children, only the seventh of these survived infancy.
There is no doubt that Goya must have been deeply affected
by this; perhaps the dead baby in this image reflects his loss.
Provenance
Harris 82, fifth edition, 1881-6. Purchased by The Bowes
Museum from a private collection 2004.
26 Architectural capriccio with obelisk
Hubert Robert (1733-1808)
1768
Oil on canvas 106 x 139cm
The Bowes Museum
27 Trágala, perro
(Swallow it, dog)
Francisco de Goya
Plate 58 from Los Caprichos
1797-8
Etching and aquatint
21 x 15cm (plate size)
Trágala, perro (Swallow it, dog) was another attack on the
Spanish clergy. A man kneels on the ground in terror, begging
for mercy from a monk clutching a huge enema syringe.
Around him are cackling caricatures, who await in anticipation the
thrust of the syringe into the desperate man’s belly, in an attempt
to flush out his orthodox beliefs.
25
Goya’s Prison – the Year of Despair