FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
Hilan Delgado, Plate 44 from: Los Caprichos
etching with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving, circa 1798-99, on laid paper, without watermark, a very good impression from the First Edition, published by the artist, Madrid, 1799, with touches of burr on the threads of yarn by the spinner’s left hand
Plate 216 x 149 mm.
Sheet 298 x 203 mm.

Presumably Manuel Fernández Durán y Pando, Marqués de Perales del Río (1818-1886), Madrid.
Don Pedro Fernández-Durán (1846-1930), Madrid; with his stamp (Lugt 747b); presumably by descent from the above.
Don Tomas de la Maza y Saavedra (1896-1975); gift from the above.
With Herman Shickman Fine Arts, New York.
With Stuart Denenberg, Los Angeles.
Private American Collection; acquired from the above.

Delteil 81; Harris 79

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
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Lot Essay

‘This is the first of a series of witchcraft scenes following Plate 43...This Caprichorefers to the practice of sacrificing children to the devil. These three women spinning yarn are indeed depraved ‘monsters’. This is made clearer with the Ayala text of 1799-1803: ‘The infamous procuresses spin so finely that not even the Devil could undo the deceit with which they have mixed up children.’ The chiquilloshere certainly are the children of their proteges.’

Cited in: R. S. Johnson, Francisco Goya, Los Caprichos, R.S. Johnson Fine Art, Chicago, 1992, p. 116.