FRANCISCO DE GOYA - AFFILIATION (LOS CAPRICHOS, Nº 57) - 1918

Subject: Original engraving by Goya from the first half of the 20th century. Tenth edition. The Caprichos - Francisco de Goya.

Publication: Madrid, Real Calcografía, 1918. 10th edition. 

Technique: Etching and aquatint. Beveled. Black and white with sepia tones on laid paper that looks similar to the first edition. Watermarked paper (Portrait of Goya with hat) Numbered in the upper right corner with 57. Title in plate in the lower part. This edition is very well printed and is the best after the fourth edition, the plates have been cleaned and cleaned and the printing has been improved.

Size: 22 x 15 cm [print], 33'5 x 26'5 cm [paper].

Description: A seated woman in profile in the foreground wears a fox's mask over her face and a grotesque mask on her lap. In front of her, a priest or a woman - the identity of this personage is unclear - is verifying the executor's certificate attesting to the young woman's lineage. It seems that she is going to marry the figure standing next to her in the background, although it could also be a bailiff who is checking that the act is going well. The latter has a deformed face with a long, ostentatious nose, and adjusts a pair of glasses to see better. On the right of the engraving is a rapt figure with clasped hands, and on the left is a crowd, a dehumanised mass that is mostly undefined. The light is concentrated on the two figures in the foreground, while the rest are practically unilluminated, which accentuates the idea of indefiniteness.

The manuscripts agree that this is the moment before a marriage in which the bride's origins are being explained to her future husband.

Conservation: Good impression.

References: T., Harris, Goya: Engravings and Lithographs.