Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Pintor (Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Painter)

Goya published his first major etching series, Los Caprichos (Caprices), in 1799. It consists of 80 satirical prints in which he attacked the political, social, and religious abuses of his time. A consummate and highly experimental master of the aquatint technique, Goya plunged his scenes into fantastical chiaroscuro. The series opens with a programmatic self-portrait, in which the artist presents himself full of self-confidence and dressed in French fashion, casting a critical glance at his audience from the corner of his eye. (TD 2024, translation Büro LS Anderson, Berlin)