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Work 15,943 of 57,235
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This information may change as the result of ongoing research.
* This information may change as the result of ongoing research.
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746 - 1828 Bordeaux)
Giant
by 1818
Burnished aquatint; working proof of first state; one of six impressions known
sheet: 11 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (28.5 x 21 cm)
Print
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935
35.42
Evoking that uneasiness that wells up in us at the first thought of some unfathomable power, Goya's "Giant" is staggering. This rarity ranks with works by Dürer and Rembrandt as one of the most impressive images ever printed from a copperplate.

Like a mezzotint engraver, Goya proceeded to scrape highlights into metal previously roughened with grainy aquatint. Thus he sculpted this gargantuan colossus—Prometheus, Zeus, god of war—or what you will, out of darkness. Everything that held Goya in awe seems to have been compacted into this mysterious, ominous being.