Francisco de Goya

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES (Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746 - Bordeaux, France, 1828).
"Disparate matrimonial (or Disparate desordenado)". Stamp number 7 of the series "Disparates o proverbios".
5th edition.
Engraving on paper.
Measurements: 24.5 x 35 cm (print); 26 x 36 cm (paper); 41 x 51 cm (frame).

"Los disparates" is a series of twenty-two etchings made with aquatint and etching, with drypoint and burnisher retouches, made by Goya between 1815 and 1823. It is a series of difficult interpretation, of dreamlike and symbolic images, deeply critical. On this occasion it shows a married couple united from behind. It is a criticism of Goya, an enlightened man, against marriages of convenience. The clergymen represented in the left part 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 attention to the somewhat more explicit sense than in other prints of the series, should give way to "Disparate desordenado" (Disparate disorderly), which shows a proof from the Chicago Museum. The monstrous couple, painfully united as in the Capricho "No one can untie us?", violently rebukes the spectators, that is to say, Society, the ultimate culprit of that "disorder". There is no lack of allusions among these spectators to the clerical habit, which two of the most singularized characters, on the left, seem to wear. Others have metamorphosed into animals, to better express their evident wickedness. The kinship with the attendants of the Black Paintings coven is evident. Harris's proverb "she who has a bad husband never fails to say" may apply, of course, but it is not very expressive for the hallucinating intensity of the picture".