Los Disparates

Los Disparates

Los Disparates is a late graphic series conceived by Francisco Goya during the turbulent period surrounding the Peninsular War and the Bourbon Restoration, forming a dense, enigmatic body of prints that complements The Disasters of War and Los Caprichos. Commissioned by or associated with private patrons and produced in stages between about 1815 and 1823, the series remained unpublished in Goya's lifetime and entered public view through later editions and museum collections such as the Museo del Prado, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its imagery engages with themes present in Goya's contemporaneous work for figures like Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand VII of Spain, and patrons of the Spanish court while resonating with broader European debates exemplified by events such as the Congress of Vienna and the French Restoration.

Background and Genesis

Goya developed the prints after producing major cycles including The Disasters of War (1808–1814) and Los Caprichos (1797–1799), amid political upheaval involving Napoleon Bonaparte, the Peninsular War, and the return of Ferdinand VII of Spain. The genesis of the series intersects with Goya's declining official commissions from institutions such as the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and private interactions with collectors like Don Ramón de Lázaro and Leocadia Weiss. Work on the plates coincided with Goya’s deafness, his residence at the Quinta del Sordo, and the circulation of prints by contemporaries including Antonio Carnicero, Goya's disciple Eugenio Lucas Velázquez, and other printmakers in Madrid and Paris. Political censorship under the restored Bourbon monarchy and events such as the Ominous Decade (Spain) contributed to the series remaining unpublished and cryptic, with plates discovered and disseminated piecemeal through the 19th century by dealers connected to collections in London, Paris, and Madrid.

Description and Themes

The series comprises around twenty-two plates whose subjects range from grotesque carnival figures to nocturnal allegories, incubi, masked riders, and hybrid creatures evocative of classical and medieval iconography associated with Spanish Inquisition anxieties, folkloric motifs tied to Carnival of Cádiz, and broader European Romanticism as seen in the works of William Blake, Francisco de Zurbarán, and Henry Fuseli. Recurring motifs—masked women, birds of prey, cavalry, and architectural ruins—invite readings that intersect with the political crises of the Hundred Days, Napoleonic occupation, and the repressive policies of Ferdinand VII of Spain. Interpretations have linked the prints to satire of courtly rituals such as those of the Royal Alcázar of Madrid and to private meditations on mortality and irrationality, echoing iconography familiar to viewers of works by Diego Velázquez, Titian, Albrecht Dürer, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Scholars have debated whether specific plates reference events like the execution of the Liberal Triennium conspirators or aesthetic dialogues with contemporaneous poets such as Leandro Fernández de Moratín and Mariano José de Larra.

Technique and Materials

Goya used etching, aquatint, and drypoint techniques on copper plates, exploiting tonal variation and chiaroscuro affinities traceable to earlier masters including Rembrandt, Jacques-Louis David, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. The plates show impulses from reproductive printmakers working in Paris and London as well as Spanish engravers linked to the Royal Printing Office. Goya's application of open-bite aquatint, spit-bite, and selective scraping produces velvety blacks, luminous greys, and scratched highlights, aligning with processes used in his contemporaneous etchings for the Tauromaquia series and in his painted final works such as the murals at the Quinta del Sordo. Surviving impressions exist in variable states—artist's proofs, early impressions, and later editions produced by print dealers and institutions like the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando—resulting in material discrepancies studied by conservators at the Museo del Prado and curators at the British Museum.

Reception and Exhibition History

Because the series was not published during Goya’s life, reception developed slowly: 19th-century collectors such as Aureliano de Vélez and dealers in Paris and London circulated impressions, while scholars and critics including Aureliano de Beruete, Émile Michel, and later Robert Hughes and Kenneth Clark debated the meaning and chronology. The plates entered museum displays over the 20th century with landmark exhibitions at institutions like the Museo del Prado, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, and touring retrospectives organized by curators from the National Gallery, London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Critical reception has ranged from readings in the tradition of Romanticism to psychoanalytic and political interpretations influenced by thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault, and Walter Benjamin. Auction houses and private collections in Madrid, Paris, and New York City have sold impressions, fueling scholarship and catalogues raisonnés.

Influence and Legacy

The series has influenced generations of artists and thinkers, informing printmaking practices of figures like Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann, and Eduardo Arroyo and resonating with writers such as Gustave Flaubert, Jorge Luis Borges, and Gabriel García Márquez. Its fusion of grotesque imagery and social critique contributed to modernist and postmodern discussions in exhibitions curated by institutions including the Tate Modern, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Conservators and print scholars continue to investigate Goya’s technical innovations, and the series remains a focal point in debates about censorship, representation, and the role of imagery in periods of political repression exemplified by episodes like the Spanish Civil War and European reactionary movements. Its enigmatic status ensures ongoing reinterpretation across fields represented by museums, universities such as the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Courtauld Institute of Art, and research centers including the Getty Research Institute and the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Category:Print series by Francisco Goya