FRANCISCO JOSE DE Goya у Lucientes was a court artist to the Spanish royal family, but also a portraitist and satirist. In 1799 he produced a series of 80 satirical etchings known as Los Caprichos (The Fantasies). The series held up the vices and follies of contemporary Spanish society for ridicule.
This print, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, acts as a chapter heading for the second part of the series, set in a nightmarish realm where witches and demons conceal the social satire. It shows the artist asleep at a worktable covered in papers and drawing instruments. Night creatures loom out of the darkness and an owl offers him a crayon holder. A drawing for this print from 1797 was captioned: ‘The Author Dreaming. His one intention is to banish harmful beliefs commonly held and with this work of Caprichos to perpetuate the solid testimony of truth.’
From Spain, first published AD 1799
Ht 21.4 cm
This print, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, acts as a chapter heading for the second part of the series, set in a nightmarish realm where witches and demons conceal the social satire. It shows the artist asleep at a worktable covered in papers and drawing instruments. Night creatures loom out of the darkness and an owl offers him a crayon holder. A drawing for this print from 1797 was captioned: ‘The Author Dreaming. His one intention is to banish harmful beliefs commonly held and with this work of Caprichos to perpetuate the solid testimony of truth.’
From Spain, first published AD 1799
Ht 21.4 cm