FR ANCISCO DE GOYA
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1746 Fuendetodos – Bordeaux 1828
Disparate de carnabal – Alegrias antruejo, que mañana seras ceniza. Carnival Folly – Rejoice, Carnival, for Tomorrow Thou Wilt Be Ashes. Ca. 1815/24 Etching and aquatint. 24.4 x 35.5 cm Delteil 215/I (of II); Harris 261/II (of III.9)
Sheet 14 from Los Proverbios or Los Disparates One of only six known, extremely rare trial proofs of the unaltered plate. According to A. E. Sayre (exhib. cat. The changing Image: Prints by Francisco de Goya, Boston 1974), such proofs were printed around 1848 and published privately, before the Academia de San Ferando acquired all 18 plates and had the series reworked for the first edition in 1864. Before the later number. As with the other members of the series, Goya himself pulled only a few working proofs from the plate. According to Harris, only two proofs have been traced. Magnificent impression, printed in black ink, as described by Harris, displaying the richly nuanced grain so characteristic of Goya’s finely differentiated aquatint tone, particularly in the background, which is marvelously clear and transparent. Printed on a relatively fine-grained and soft structured wove paper, with 1.2 – 1.8 cm margins beyond the partially inky platemark. At the bottom with a short, carefully mended tear outside the image, otherwise perfect. According to A. E. Pérez Sánchez, These absurd, masked figures, which walk on stilts or wear disguises, strive to convey an image of themselves to their fellow human beings that contradicts reality. They confront one another as antagonists, quarrel or offer one another support; the overall impression is one of tremendous confusion and mutual deception.
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