'Animal Folly' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish
Not on view
The elephant is based on a drawing Goya made in the 1800s, possibly upon the arrival in Madrid of an Indian elephant. Conveying the wonder with which animals from other places were regarded in early nineteenth-century Spain, this print has been interpreted as a reference to the so-called Persian Manifesto (from a note on the customs of "the ancient Persians" in its first article) that led to the annulment of the constitution and the restoration of Ferdinand VII in 1814. Here, men in Eastern robes hold an open book and a harness with bells, attempting to lure an elephant standing in a circular space that recalls a bullring.
One of the four additonal plates prepared for the set but not included in the posthumous first edition published by the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid in 1864 under the title 'Los Proverbios'.
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This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
