Plate 23 from "Los Caprichos": These specks of dust (Aquellos polbos)
This image of an auto-da-fé, a ceremony of judgment before execution, is a direct reference to the Inquisition. The accused wears a conical hat decorated with references to his or her crimes and a sleeveless scapular, a sign of penance, over a long garment. Goya’s caption is taken from the first part of a Spanish proverb that alludes to the magnitude of the consequences of apparently minor or unimportant events. The target of his satire is not the accused, who is represented as a defenseless victim, but the sinister figures in the pulpit—the Inquisitors responsible for public spectacles like this one.
Artwork Details
- Title: Plate 23 from "Los Caprichos": These specks of dust (Aquellos polbos)
- Series/Portfolio: Los Caprichos
- Artist: Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
- Date: 1799
- Medium: Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint, burin
- Dimensions: Plate: 8 7/16 × 5 13/16 in. (21.5 × 14.8 cm)
Sheet: 11 9/16 x 8 1/4 in. (29.4 x 21 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of M. Knoedler & Co., 1918
- Object Number: 18.64(23)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
1799, posthumous impression
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ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
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