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[What one does to another]
Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin, 215 x 151 mm. Harris 112, III-1 (of 12).
Plate 77 of Los Caprichos [The Caprices] series, 1st edition, 1799 (approximately 300 sets).
Very fine impression printed from the yet unbevelled plate, with the contrasts between the light areas (on the heads to the left, the upper part of the ‘picador’ and the bull’s back) and the darker parts.
Impression printed in lightish sepia ink on laid paper. In very good condition. Wide margins (sheet: 302 x 198 mm).
A manuscript in the Prado Museum, attributed to Goya himself, gives us this explanation:
« Así va el mundo, unos a otros se burlan y torean: el que hacía de toro, hoy hace de caballero en plaza. La fortuna dirige la fiesta y distribuye los papeles, según la inconstancia de sus caprichos. »
[It is the way of the world. People jest and fight with one another. He who yesterday played the part of the bull, today plays the ‘caballero en plaza’ [picador]. Fortune presides over the show and allots the parts according to the inconstancy of her caprices.] (quoted by Harris, p. 155).
