Los Caprichos de Goya

Prints "The Capriches", by Francisco de Goya

"Los Caprichos" is a series of 80 engravings by the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, which represents a satire of Spanish society at the end of the 18th century, especially the nobility and the clergy.

In the first half he presented the most realistic and satirical engravings, criticizing the behavior of his fellow men from reason. In the second part he abandoned rationality and represented fantastic engravings where through absurdity he showed delirious visions of strange beings.

He used a mixed technique of etching, aquatint and drypoint retouching. He exaggeratedly deformed the physiognomies and bodies of those who represented human vices and clumsiness, giving bestial aspects.

Goya, closely related to the Enlightenment, shared his reflections on the defects of his society. They were opposed to religious fanaticism, superstitions, the Inquisition, and some religious orders; they aspired to more just laws and a new educational system. He criticized all of this humorously and mercilessly in these plates. Aware of the risk he was taking and to protect himself, he gave some of his prints imprecise labels, especially the satires of the aristocracy and the clergy. He also diluted the message by illogically arranging the engravings. In any case, his contemporaries understood the engravings, even the most ambiguous ones, as a direct satire of their society and also of specific characters, although the artist always rejected this last aspect.