Se repulen is a black and white etching, aquatint and burin, from the series “Los Caprichos” by Francisco Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos, 1746 - Bordeaux, 1828). This is the 51st plate from the series, as it is reported on plate on higher-right corner. The title is etched on plate on lower margin at the center. The first edition of the series is of 1799, but probably this specimen is from the ninth edition, published by the Calchography of the Real Academia. Reference: Tomàs Harris, Goya. Engravings and lithograph, Cassirer, Oxford, 1964, vol. II, p. 124, n. 86 Enrique Lafuente Ferrari, Goya, Gravures et Lithographies, Oeuvre complète, Arts et Métiers graphiques, pag. 51. The scene depicts three demonic characters cutting their long toenails; in this way Goya allegorically describes the practice of politicians, and perhaps even ecclesiastics, to help each other by covering up others' shortcomings and weaknesses. It is important not what one is nor what one knows how to do, but only the exteriority that is embellished and capable of covering meanness and wickedness. The preparatory drawing of this plate is preserved at the Prado Museum. Our print, characterized by a lifetime impression, probably belongs to the ninth edition of the Goyesca series, although the dimensions of the sheet, cut out, do not correspond to what was indicated by Harris; however the paper seems identical to that indicated by the connaisseur for this edition. Overall very good conditions, except for a visible stain due to a tape marks on the back, partly visible on the recto. Los Caprichos On February 6, 1799, the Madrid Diary reported the announcement of the sale of the ''Collection of capricious assumptions, invented and etched by Don Francisco Goya. The author, convinced that the denunciation of human errors and vices (...) can also be the object of painting, has chosen as themes appropriate to his work, between the multitude of extravagances and stupidities customary to every civil society, and between the vulgar prejudices and lies, rooted in the use of ignorance and interest, those he considered most suitable to provide material for ridicule and at the same time to excite the imagination of the craftsman [...] he had to create for the eyes forms and attitudes that so far have existed only in human minds obscured by the lack of education, or lit by the dissimulation of passions. (...) in none of the compositions that make up this collection the author has proposed to ridicule the defects of this or that particular person; this fact would be tantamount to over-restricting the limits of talent and misunderstanding the means by which the arts of vision are used to produce perfect works. Painting (like poetry) chooses in the universal what it deems most convenient for its purposes: (..), it results that happy image for which a good craftsman acquires the title of creator and not of servile imitator. It is sold in the street of Desengaño n. 1, in the liquor and perfume shop, near 320 real for each series of 80 works ''. The text was probably written by the artist's friend, Juan Augustin Céan Bermúdez, who prudently, because of the inquisition, emphasized the fantasy character rather than the denunciation character of the series. The Capricci, Goya's first graphic series, were elaborated between 1797 and 1798; the tables are ideally divisible into two sections, from table 1 to 42 and from 43 up to the last; in which the artist makes us partakers of his conception of man, clearly pre-romantic, opening a gash on the social reality that is contemporary to him but also on the inner universe, that of dreams that haunt consciences. The sale of the series was suspended only after two days: due to the failure, economic and not of fame, in 1803 the artist gave the plates and his 240 copies to King Charles IV, in exchange for a pension for his son. Several manuscript comments accompanied the tables over time, among which the best known is the one preserved in the Prado, written by Valentín Cordorera, heir of the Bermúdez collection; the character of biting criticism of the costumes of the time, sometimes generic, sometimes more punctual, was clear to the critics immediately, even if the tables were sometimes used as entertainment and decoration of environments. The Capricci knew a first test run, which preceded the numbering, performed by the artist in 102 plates taken from 60 of the 80 plates that make up the series, of which only two are printed by plates without the addition to the aquatint. Other test runs, written and numbered, include two complete series drawn from the 80 plates, one that precedes the corrections in the titles and in the numbering and one carried out after the corrections. The tests differ, as well described by Harris, for the type of paper used, the color of the ink and the measurements of the sheets. The editions: The first edition, in 300 copies, was executed directly by Goya and proposed for sale in 1799; of very high quality, due to the type of paper used and the warm sepia ink, it was made with slabs still in excellent state of preservation. To the 80 must be added other 5 plates never placed for sale. The second edition dates back to about 1855, printed by the Calcografia of the Real Academia, in a few copies. The third edition, the only one to be dated, was performed by Calcografia Nacional in 1868 on slabs not yet processed. The title page of this edition was also used for the fourth, dated 1878, without the date being modified: the two editions stand out because in that of 1878 the plates were retouched. The back of the title page of these two editions bears the table of contents, the measurements and the cost of each. Between 1881 and 1886 the Calcografia of the Real Academia promoted the fifth edition of the cycle, limited to 210 copies. Then followed, again promoted by the Academy: the sixth edition, in 230 copies, between 1890 and 1900; the seventh, in 110 copies, between 1903 and 1905; the eighth, between 1905 and 1907, limited to 180 copies; the ninth, between 1908 and 1912, in 180 copies; the tenth, between 1918 and 1928. Some tables were also printed on Japanese paper for the International Calcography Exhibition in Madrid, Paris and Rome in 1927. For the Seville Exposition of 1929 the Calcography of the Escuela Nacional de Artes Gráficas he made the eleventh edition, in 100 copies: those not sold on the occasion of the Andalusian city exhibition were sent to the Brussels Exhibition. The printer Adolfo Rupérez Grima (1880-1972) performed the last edition, at the Chalcography of the Ministerio de Instrucción Pública, in 1937, in the middle of the civil war. One of the first examples of this edition was exhibited in the same year at the Victoria and Albert Museum alongside the other three great Goyesque cycles. The editions differ from each other in the type of papers and inks, sheet sizes, retouches on the plates. This artwork is shipped from Italy. Under existing legislation, any artwork in Italy created over 70 years ago by an artist who has died requires a licence for export regardless of the work’s market price. The shipping may require additional handling days to require the licence according to the final destination of the artwork.
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