Out Hunting for Teeth, plate twelve from Los Caprichos

Prints and Drawings

1797/99

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Spanish, 1746-1828

Goya produced his Caprices, a series of 88 prints, between 1797 and 1799. Here, he satirizes love’s ability to drive a person to foolishness. A terrorized young woman stands on her toes on a ledge. With one hand she shields herself with a handkerchief, and with the other she pulls teeth from a hanged corpse, which she will use to cast a love spell. The tonal values achieved by aquatint highlight the lifeless body’s countenance as well as the young woman’s handkerchief. Goya may be referring to a traditional star-crossed romance, La Celestina, in which the tooth-potion goes awry.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Title: Out Hunting for Teeth, plate twelve from Los Caprichos
Place: Spain (Artist's nationality)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1797–1799
Medium: Etching, burnished aquatint and burin on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: Image: 18.4 × 11.9 cm (7 1/4 × 4 11/16 in.); Plate: 22 × 15.2 cm (8 11/16 × 6 in.); Sheet: 30.1 × 20.7 cm (11 7/8 × 8 3/16 in.)
Credit Line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
Reference Number: 1948.110.12
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