Tántalo, Caprichos No. 9 - Original Goya Etching - 1937 Ed.
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This edition was made by Rupérez in the Calcografía Nacional for the Ministerio de Instrucción Pública in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.
Plate measures: 21x15 cms.
Sheet measures: 38x28,5 cms.
The present engraving has the number 19 on the back. The engraving has a embossed stamp with the initials 'CN' surrounded by a border which reads: Calcografia Nacional Ministerio de Instrucción Pública.
Five sets, numbered 1-5 were dedicated to Stalin, Mrs. Eleanor Rooselvet, and for the Republican President Azaña, President of the Republic, leaving two sets unaccounted for. Fifteen series numbered 6-20, on Imperial Japan paper were also issued. It appears that shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, all Goya´s copperplates were going to be sent to Paris with a view to printing an edition there. The work was finally undertaken in the Calcografía. One of the first series issued in 1937 was gifted by the Spanish Embassy in London to the Victorian and Albert Museum, where it was exhibited. Thomas Harris states that this edition is a very well printed.
Condition: In good condition. It has humidity stains on left-hand side and bottom part of the paper that do not affect the image as can be seen in the pictures. One small dark spot on bottom-side of the impression that affects the image.
'Tantalo' (Plate 9 Los Caprichos). The picture represents a desperate man crying out to heaven, while holding a woman on his knees, apparently dead. Goya addresses love and death, issues that captured the attention of the romantic movement. According to Lafuente Ferrari (1977: 50), the pyramid is the symbol of death, and as such it is the symbolic representation of Goya's deceased love affairs with the Duchess of Alba and the tomb of reason in which the artist is forced to bury them before the imperative of reality.
Los Caprichos are above all a satire conceived as a means to combat the vices of men and the absurdities of human behavior. Simplifying the series, we can group the prints around four major themes, all of them undoubtedly critical in tone. In the first of them, he addresses deception in relationships between man and woman: courtship as a common practice according to which modern man, busy with his various businesses, allowed his wife to be accompanied on his outings by a leading man; prostitution that denigrated and exploited the condition of both sexes; and unequal marriages or marriages of convenience, a common practice of his time and criticized by the enlightened. The satire of bad education and ignorance, the result of enlightened concern about this issue, is reflected in the Caprices that show the consequences of wrong teachings in children; false beliefs and superstitions produced by ignorance; and witchcraft as the supreme manifestation of lack of education and superstition. The condemnation of the vices rooted in society, and particularly in the clergy, also have a place: vanity, gluttony, laziness, lust or greed are shown to us in a caustic way in another group of prints. Finally, other Caprichos reveal their protest against the abuses of power: the Inquisition, the arrogance of the ruling classes, the exploitation of the people and the injustices of the law.
"Tántalo" is plate no. 9 of Los Caprichos by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828): a man, in despair, clutches his head while holding a lifeless woman across his knees, at the foot of a large pyramid-like structure. The series of 80 plates, published in 1799, is Goya's great satire on the vices, abuses and superstitions of the Spanish society of his day.
This impression belongs to the edition printed by Rupérez at the Calcografía Nacional in 1937, in the midst of the Spanish Civil War, for the Ministry of Public Instruction. Five numbered sets, 1 to 5, were dedicated to Stalin, Eleanor Roosevelt and Manuel Azaña, President of the Republic, two of them remaining unassigned; a further fifteen sets numbered 6 to 20 were issued on Japanese Imperial paper. This print bears the number 19 on the back. One of the first sets printed in 1937 was presented by the Spanish ambassador in London to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it was exhibited. The sheet bears the blind stamp of the Calcografía Nacional, the letters CN surrounded by the legend "Calcografía Nacional Ministerio de Instrucción Pública". Thomas Harris notes that it is a very well engraved edition.
Medium: Etching and aquatint on Japanese Imperial paper.
Artist / after: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828).
Engraver: Francisco de Goya.
Date: Plates etched c. 1797-1799; printed in 1937.
Source: Calcografía Nacional, Madrid. 1937 edition for the Ministry of Public Instruction, set no. 19, with blind stamp.
Dimensions: Plate 8.3 x 5.9 in (21 x 15 cm); sheet 15 x 11.2 in (38 x 28.5 cm).
Condition: Paper lightly toned, with wide margins and the odd isolated spot in the margins and within the image; well-marked plate mark.
10005
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This edition was made by Rupérez in the Calcografía Nacional for the Ministerio de Instrucción Pública in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.
Plate measures: 21x15 cms.
Sheet measures: 38x28,5 cms.
The present engraving has the number 19 on the back. The engraving has a embossed stamp with the initials 'CN' surrounded by a border which reads: Calcografia Nacional Ministerio de Instrucción Pública.
Five sets, numbered 1-5 were dedicated to Stalin, Mrs. Eleanor Rooselvet, and for the Republican President Azaña, President of the Republic, leaving two sets unaccounted for. Fifteen series numbered 6-20, on Imperial Japan paper were also issued. It appears that shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, all Goya´s copperplates were going to be sent to Paris with a view to printing an edition there. The work was finally undertaken in the Calcografía. One of the first series issued in 1937 was gifted by the Spanish Embassy in London to the Victorian and Albert Museum, where it was exhibited. Thomas Harris states that this edition is a very well printed.
Condition: In good condition. It has humidity stains on left-hand side and bottom part of the paper that do not affect the image as can be seen in the pictures. One small dark spot on bottom-side of the impression that affects the image.
'Tantalo' (Plate 9 Los Caprichos). The picture represents a desperate man crying out to heaven, while holding a woman on his knees, apparently dead. Goya addresses love and death, issues that captured the attention of the romantic movement. According to Lafuente Ferrari (1977: 50), the pyramid is the symbol of death, and as such it is the symbolic representation of Goya's deceased love affairs with the Duchess of Alba and the tomb of reason in which the artist is forced to bury them before the imperative of reality.
Los Caprichos are above all a satire conceived as a means to combat the vices of men and the absurdities of human behavior. Simplifying the series, we can group the prints around four major themes, all of them undoubtedly critical in tone. In the first of them, he addresses deception in relationships between man and woman: courtship as a common practice according to which modern man, busy with his various businesses, allowed his wife to be accompanied on his outings by a leading man; prostitution that denigrated and exploited the condition of both sexes; and unequal marriages or marriages of convenience, a common practice of his time and criticized by the enlightened. The satire of bad education and ignorance, the result of enlightened concern about this issue, is reflected in the Caprices that show the consequences of wrong teachings in children; false beliefs and superstitions produced by ignorance; and witchcraft as the supreme manifestation of lack of education and superstition. The condemnation of the vices rooted in society, and particularly in the clergy, also have a place: vanity, gluttony, laziness, lust or greed are shown to us in a caustic way in another group of prints. Finally, other Caprichos reveal their protest against the abuses of power: the Inquisition, the arrogance of the ruling classes, the exploitation of the people and the injustices of the law.