FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746 - Bordeaux, France, 1828).
"Disparate matrimonial (or Disparate desordenado)". Print number 7 of the series "Disparates o proverbios".
5th edition.
Engraving on paper.
Enclosed photocopy of the certificate of Ramón Gento i Sostres.
Measurements: 20.5 x 31.5 cm (print; 25 x 35 cm (paper); 41 x 51 cm (frame).
"Los disparates" is a series of twenty-two etchings in aquatint and etching, with drypoint and burnisher retouches, made by Goya between 1815 and 1823. It is a difficult-to-interpret series of dreamlike and symbolic images that are deeply critical. On this occasion it shows a married couple joined at the back. This is a critique by the enlightened Goya of marriages of convenience. The clerics depicted on the left of the composition represent the church's approval of these practices. Alfonso E. Pérez-Sánchez states in his book "Goya. Caprichos-Desastres-Tauromaquia-Disparates" about this work: "The traditional title, given by Beruete in view of the somewhat more explicit meaning than in other prints in the series, should give way to "Disparate Disparate desordenado", which is shown in a proof in the Chicago Museum. The monstrous couple, painfully united like the one in the Capricho "No one can untie us?", violently rebuke the spectators, i.e. Society, the ultimate culprit of this "disorder". There is no lack of allusions among these spectators to the clerical habit, which two of the most singular characters, on the left, seem to wear. Others have metamorphosed into animals, the better to express their evident wickedness. The kinship with the attendants of the Black Paintings coven is evident. Harris's proverb, "she that ill-matched never fails to say", may apply, of course, but it is not very expressive for the hallucinating intensity of the picture".