Francisco de Goya (1746-1828)

Francisco de Goya

Loyalty, Plate 17 from ‘The Proverbs’

Spain, about 1816

Etching with aquatint and drypoint

24.4 x 35.7 cm

Goya’s final series of etchings, The Proverbs (Los Proverbios), also known as Disparetes or Absurdities, remain his most mysterious and enigmatic.

Featuring a group of monks and friars, Loyalty appears to be concerned with the licentious behaviour of those in religious orders. This strange group evokes a sense of the carnivalesque, a world turned upside down, though the exact meaning remains unclear. The series was not printed during the artist’s lifetime.

Purchased 1956 (No. 56.13)

WORKS ON PAPER

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