Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828). The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), 1797–1798. Etching and aquatint on laid paper, Sheet: 11 7/8 x 8 in. (30.2 x 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Frank L. Babbott Fund, and Carll H. de Silver Fund, 37.33.43 (Photo: , 37.33.43_PS9.jpg)
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828). The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), 1797–1798. Etching and aquatint on laid paper, Sheet: 11 7/8 x 8 in. (30.2 x 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Frank L. Babbott Fund, and Carll H. de Silver Fund, 37.33.43 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.33.43_SL1.jpg)
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos)
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
European Art
The Caprices (Los Caprichos) is a set of eighty etchings created between 1797 and 1798. On view are thirteen examples of the Brooklyn Museum’s rare “trial proof” set, which is composed of early impressions of a print made by the artist prior to the published edition. In the first part of the series, Goya critiques the characters, institutions, and values of early modern Spanish society; the second focuses on bizarre and macabre imagery.
The most famous image, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), conveys a purposeful ambiguity regarding the conflict between Spanish religiosity and Enlightenment thought: sueño may refer both to the sleep or absence of reason, and to the dream of reason (reason unchecked) that produces monsters. This idea reappears later in the exhibition in Robert Longo’s work.
The most famous image, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), conveys a purposeful ambiguity regarding the conflict between Spanish religiosity and Enlightenment thought: sueño may refer both to the sleep or absence of reason, and to the dream of reason (reason unchecked) that produces monsters. This idea reappears later in the exhibition in Robert Longo’s work.
PORTFOLIO/SERIES
Los Caprichos, Plate 43
MEDIUM
Etching and aquatint on laid paper
DATES
1797–1798
DIMENSIONS
Sheet: 11 7/8 x 8 in. (30.2 x 20.3 cm)
Other (Plate): 8 1/2 x 5 15/16 in. (21.6 x 15.1 cm)
Image: 7 1/4 x 4 13/16 in. (18.4 x 12.2 cm) (show scale)
MARKINGS
Verso stamped upper center: "BROOKLYN MUSEUM/BROOKLYN, N.Y." in rectangle (Lugt 307b)
INSCRIPTIONS
Upper right in plate: "43."
Verso upper center in graphite: "37.33-43"
COLLECTIONS
European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
37.33.43
CREDIT LINE
A. Augustus Healy Fund, Frank L. Babbott Fund, and Carll H. de Silver Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828). The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), 1797–1798. Etching and aquatint on laid paper, Sheet: 11 7/8 x 8 in. (30.2 x 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Frank L. Babbott Fund, and Carll H. de Silver Fund, 37.33.43 (Photo: , 37.33.43_PS9.jpg)
STATE
Trial proof
IMAGE
overall, 37.33.43_PS9.jpg., 2017
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