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A work made of etching and aquatint in warm black on ivory laid paper.

Until Death, plate 55 from Los Caprichos

1797/99

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes Spanish, 1746-1828

Spain

Goya’s Caprices series scathingly attacks the hypocrisy and superstition the artist saw throughout contemporary Spanish culture. Glued to her dressing table mirror, the crone in this image sees only her fashionable trappings, not her wrinkled visage. In the background, young courtiers mock her futile vanity with shielded laughs and amused glances. And yet, though the shortsighted pathetic creature may have one foot in the grave, it is encased in an elegantly exposed stocking.

Etching and aquatint in warm black on ivory laid paper

Prints and Drawings