Charlatan's show, plate 75 from The Disasters of War
1815/20, published 1863
Medium
Etching, aquatint or lavis, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper with gilt edges
Dimensions
Image: 14.8 × 19.6 cm (5 7/8 × 7 3/4 in.); Plate: 17 × 22 cm (6 3/4 × 8 11/16 in.); Sheet: 24 × 33.7 cm (9 1/2 × 13 5/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
124928
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The 82 etchings made privately by Goya in response to Napoleon’s onslaught on Spanish soil focused on the war’s effects on all the people of Spain, not just the soldiers. In this eerie image, a priest who appears to be wearing a bird mask performs a ritual before a weary crowd. Through the clergyman’s costume and dramatic pose, as well as the work’s title, Goya likened religion to mountebanks and stage productions.
About the Artist
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes · 1746–1828
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was born on March 30, 1746, in the small Aragonese village of Fuendetodos, Spain, to José Benito de Goya, a master gilder, and Gracia de Lucientes. The fourth of six children in a modest lower-middle-class family, Goya received a basic education before beginning his artistic training at age 14 under the local painter José Luzán y Martínez in Zaragoza, where he sp...