Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. Subir y Bajar (To Rise and to Fall). Plate 56 from Los Caprichos etching series, 10th edition.

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Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. Subir y Bajar (To Rise and to Fall). Plate 56 from Los Caprichos etching series, … Read more Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. Subir y Bajar (To Rise and to Fall). Plate 56 from Los Caprichos etching series, 10th edition.
The paper is watermarked with the stamp of the Calcografía Nacional.

According to Thomas Harris, this tenth edition, published in 1918, was a limited run of 170 copies of exceptional quality. After cleaning and steel-facing the original plates, this edition is, due to its technical characteristics, considered the most valuable after the splendid fourth edition. Printed on laid paper with a watermark featuring a portrait of Goya.

Subir y Bajar (Plate 56) is a print in which Godoy is allegorically represented, having risen to power as the Queen’s lover. This Capricho follows the vanitas of the old coquette and is placed at the center of a group of five prints addressing themes of sexual perversion and excess. According to some interpretations, the figures depicted represent the fallen ministers influenced by Godoy. However, it is more likely that the print conveys a general sentiment of political instability and demoralization, caused by the rapid and capricious succession of ministers.

Plate size: 14 x 21.5 cm
Paper size: 26.5 x 36 cm

Condition: Excellent

Los Caprichos (The Caprices) is a set of 80 prints in aquatint and etching, created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya between 1797 and 1798, and first published as an album in 1799. The prints served as an artistic experiment and a medium for Goya’s condemnation of the universal follies and vices he observed in Spanish society.

Thirteen official editions are known: the first in 1799, five more in the 19th century, and seven in the 20th century—the last one being published in 1970 by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. See less