Nanny's boy, plate four from Los Caprichos
Medium
Etching and aquatint on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 18.4 × 13 cm (7 1/4 × 5 1/8 in.); Plate: 20.8 × 15.2 cm (8 1/4 × 6 in.); Sheet: 30.1 × 20.7 cm (11 7/8 × 8 3/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
123765
Art Historical Context
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes created "Nanny's Boy as the fourth plate in his groundbreaking series *Los Caprich*, published in 1799. This and aquatint captures a grown man being carried on the of his elderly nanny, biting satire on dependency, privilege and the failure of Spanish society to embrace maturity and reason during the late Enlightenment. Goya, already established as a court painter, used the series to expose human folly, superstition, and corruption without direct political confrontation. The choice of etching combined with aquatint was revolutionary for its time, allowing Go...
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...