The cloaked man
Medium
Etching, drypoint
Dimensions
Plate: 7 1/2 × 4 3/4 in. (19 × 12 cm) Sheet: 9 3/16 × 6 1/4 in. (23.4 × 15.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1923
Accession Number
23.37.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828), the visionary Spanish artist of the Romantic era, created *The Cloaked Man* as a striking etching and drypoint print. Though dated 1859—likely referring to a posthumous impression pulled from Goya's original plates—this work exemplifies his mastery of intaglio techniques. Etching involves incising lines into a copper plate with acid for precise, fluid forms, while drypoint adds a tactile burr from direct needle scratches, yielding rich, velvety textures and dramatic shadows. Measuring a compact plate size of 7½ × 4¾ inches, it invites close inspection...
About the Artist
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) · 1746–1828
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker considered the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Rising from modest provincial origins to become First Court Painter to Charles IV, Goya's career spanned the Enlightenment's optimism and the brutal Napoleonic invasion that shattered it. A mysterious illness in 1793 left him permanently deaf and ...