Nothing could be done about it (No hubo remedio) Plate 24 from: Los Caprichos

Price Realised USD 7,500

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USD 3,000 - USD 5,000

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FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)

Nothing could be done about it (No hubo remedio) Plate 24 from: Los Caprichos

Price Realised USD 7,500

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (1746-1828)
Nothing could be done about it (No hubo remedio)
Plate 24 from: Los Caprichos
etching with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving, on laid paper, a very good impression from the First Edition, published by the artist, Madrid, 1799, the burnished highlights on the central figure and the donkey contrasting well with the background, framed
Plate: 8³⁄₈ x 5⁷⁄₈ in. (213 x 149 mm.)
Sheet: 11³⁄₈ x 8 in. (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 61; Harris 59

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Lot Essay

Prado manuscript: ‘They are persecuting to death this saintly lady. After having condemned her to death they save her triumphantly. Everything is merited and if they are doing this to affront her, they are wasting their time. No one can put to shame someone who has done nothing of which to be ashamed.’

‘The last line of the Prado text would classify this etching as still another attack on the legal system (or lack of same) of the Inquisition. The Ayala text is even more direct: ‘Leather-bound: she is poor and ugly. How could she be helped?’. The ‘leather-bound’ beginning to the Ayala text may refer to ‘in legal books’. This also could signify that, with the unfair system of justice, by giving money or with more beauty (and thus with the possibility of giving herself away) a ‘solution’ to the lady's problems could have been found. Finally, it is to be noted that Jovellanos, in his brief period as Minister of Justice and Religion, attempted to diminish the power of the Inquisition. In this effort, Jovellanos was unsuccessful and, as Goya's title suggests: ‘Nothing could be done’.

Johnson, R. S., Francisco Goya, Los Caprichos, R.S. Johnson Fine Art, Chicago, 1992, p. 74.