Nuremberg Chronicle Leaf #1 Wood Cut Here we have one of Two offered "Nuremberg Chronicle Leaf " Wood Cut Printed on antique laid paper, measuring 8 by 10.5 inches  More »

Nuremberg Chronicle Leaf #1 Wood Cut Here we have one of Two offered "Nuremberg Chronicle Leaf " Wood Cut Printed on antique laid paper, measuring 8 by 10.5 inches approximate, published in 1497. Good condition with minor defects (to be expected for the age) and Hand written notations in the margins of the work. The Nuremberg Chronicle is an illustrated Biblical paraphrase and world history that follows the story of human history related in the Bible; it includes the histories of a number of important Western cities. Written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel, with a version in German translation by Georg Alt, it appeared in 1493. It is one of the best-documented early printed books—an incunabulum (printed, not hand-written)—and one of the first to successfully integrate illustrations and text. Latin scholars refer to it as Liber Chronicarum (Book of Chronicles) as this phrase appears in the index introduction of the Latin edition. English speaker have long referred to it as the Nuremberg Chronicle after the city in which it was published. German speakers refer to it as Die Schedelsche Weltchronik (Schedel's World History) in honour of its author. The Chronicle was first published in Lati on 12 July 1493 in the city of Nuremberg. This was quickly followed by a Germa translation on 23 December 1493. An estimated 1400 to 1500 Latin and 700 to 1000 German copies were published. A document from 1509 records that 539 Latin versions and 60 German versions had not been sold. Approximately 400 Latin and 300 German copies survived into the twenty-first cent . The larger illustrations were also sold separately as prints, often hand-coloured in watercolour. Many copies of the book are also coloured, with varying degrees of skill; there were specialist shops for this. The colouring on some examples has been added much later, and some copies have been broken up for sale as decorative prints. The publisher and printer was Anton Koberg , the godfather of Albrecht Dürer, who in the year of Dürer's birth in 1471 ceased goldsmithing to become a printer and publisher. He quickly became the most successful publisher in Germany, eventually owning 24 printing presses and having many offices in Germany and abroad, from Lyon to Budapest . The large workshop of Michael Wolgemut, then Nuremberg's leading artist in various media, provided the unprecedented 1,809 woodcut illustrations (before duplications are eliminated; see below). Sebastian Kammermeister and Sebald Schreyer financed the printing in a contract dated March 16, 1492, although preparations had been well under way for several years. Wolgemut and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff were first commissioned to provide the illustrations in 1487-88, and a further contract of December 29, 1491, commissioned manuscript layouts of the text and illustrations. Albrecht Dürer was an apprentice with Wolgemut from 1486 to 1489, so may well have participated in designing some of the illustrations for the specialist craftsmen (called "formschneider"s) who cut the blocks, onto which the design had been drawn, or a drawing glued. From 1490 to 1494 Dürer was travelling. A drawing by Wolgemut for the elaborate frontispiece, dated 1490, is in the British Museum. The book did not have a title page, common at that time. As with other books of the period, many of the woodcuts, showing towns, battles or kings were used more than once in the book, with the text labels merely changed; one count of the number of original woodcuts is 645. The book is large, with a double-page woodcut measuring about 342 x 500mm. Only the city of Nuremberg is given a double page illustration with no text. The illustration for the city of Venice is adapted from a much larger woodcut of 1486 by Erhard Reuwich in the first illustrated printed travel book, the Sanctae Perigrinationes of 1486. This and other sources were used where possible; where no information was available a number of stock images were used, and reused up to eleven times. The view of Florenc was adapted from an engraving by Francesco Rosselli.   « Less

Manet “En Bateau” Engraving Manet’s “En Bateau” Engraving AFTER THE WORK IN OIL, printed on smooth finish Vellum finished wove paper.  More »

Manet “En Bateau” Engraving Manet’s “En Bateau” Engraving AFTER THE WORK IN OIL, printed on smooth finish Vellum finished wove paper. The work measures 6.5 by 8.5 inches, Plate-mark. Artist signed and inscribed in the work in good condition. Manet’s “En Bateau” engraving AFTER THE WORK, represents a portion of a painted portrait from the collection of Mr. Victor Desfosses and published pre 1900.   « Less

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (November 24, 1864 — September 9, 1901) was a French painter, print maker,  More »

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (November 24, 1864 — September 9, 1901) was a French painter, print maker, draftsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colorful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an oeuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern and sometimes decadent life of those times. Toulouse-Lautrec is known along with Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin as one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist period. Toulouse-Lautrec is known along with Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gaugin as one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist period. His debt to the Impressionists, in particular the more figurative painters Manet and Degas, is apparent. In the works of Toulouse-Lautrec can be seen many parallels to Manet bored barmaid at A Bar at the Folies Bergère and the behind-the-scenes ballet dancers of Degas. He excelled at capturing people in their working environment, with the color and the movement of the gaudy night-life present, but the glamor stripped away. He was masterly at capturing crowd scenes in which the figures are highly individualized. At the time that they were painted, the individual figures in his larger paintings could be identified by silhouette alone and the names of many of these characters have been recorded. His treatment of his subject matter, whether as portraits, scenes of Parisian night-life, or intimate studies, has been described as both sympathetic and dispassionate. Toulous-Lautrec skilled depiction of people relied on his painterly style which is highly linear and gives great emphasis to contour. He often applied the paint in long thin brushstrokes which often leave much of the board on which they are painted showing through. Many of his works may best be described as drawings in colored paint. After Toulouse-Lautrec’s death, his mother, the Comtesse Adèle Toulouse-Lautrec, and Maurice Joyant, his art dealer, promoted his art. His mother contributed funds for a museum to be built in Albi, his birthplace, to house his works. As of 2005, his paintings had sold for as much as US$14.5 million. Lithographed AFTER the larger posters of by the renowned French artist, Toulouse Lautrec. In an edition of 999, Printed on special watermarked Arches paper and issued by the Albi Museum (Largest Collection of Latrec Works. Special edition supervised and published by the Estate of the artist and the Lautrec Museum, Albi, France in a limited Edition on Arches paper. The Image-sheet measure 19.50 by 14.25 inches and in good condition, This and others are all from the same portfolio and the Colophon can be downloaded for your purchase from this listing,numbered only in the colophon … #839 out a edition of 999!   « Less

Rembrandt "Self Portrait" from the Rembrandt Museum Edition Here we are offering a great impression of Rembrandt "Self Portrait" AFTER THE ORIGINAL. from the Rembrandt  More »

Rembrandt "Self Portrait" from the Rembrandt Museum Edition Here we are offering a great impression of Rembrandt "Self Portrait" AFTER THE ORIGINAL. from the Rembrandt Museum Edition, with the Museum Stamp on verso. the work measure 2 by 2.25 inches on a large sheet, watermarked VAN GELDER ZONDEN and in good condition with very large margins. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age. Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, his later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity. In his paintings and prints he exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, which he molded to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's Jewish population. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization."   « Less

Francisco Goya “Que Sacrificio” Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an  More »

Francisco Goya “Que Sacrificio” Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an Aragonese Spanish painter and printmaker. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. He has been regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. 
The engraved images that make up Goya’s most important series of prints, Los Caprichos (1799), have long been recognized as one of the supreme monuments of European art. Goya, royal painter to the kings of Spain during the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries, eventually died in exile, both of his major print series having been “donated” to the crown to protect him from the Inquisition. A believer in the potential power of reason, his works show what happens when reason is trampled underfoot by individual human follies and corrupt social customs. In these works Goya looks at his country and memorializes it as a monument to desperation, folly, arrogance, incompetence, and the need that some of his subjects have to try to control the uncontrollable. Los Caprichos are a set of 80 aquatint prints created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797 and 1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya’s condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived. The criticisms are far-ranging and acidic; he speaks against the predominance of superstition, the ignorance and inabilities of the various members of the ruling class, pedagogical short-comings, marital mistakes, and the decline of rationality. Some of the prints have anticlerical themes. Goya described the series as depicting “the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual”. The work was an enlightened, tour-de-force critique of 18th-century Spain, and humanity in general. The informal style, as well as the depiction of contemporary society found in Caprichos, makes them – and Goya himself – a precursor to the modernist movement almost a century later. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters in particular has attained an iconic status. Goya added brief explanations of each image to a manuscript now in the Prado; these help greatly to explain his often cryptic intentions, as do the titles printed below each image. Goya’s series, and the last group of prints in his series The Disasters of War, which he called “caprichos enfáticos” (“emphatic caprices”) are far from the spirit of light-hearted fantasy the term caprice usually suggests in art. Los Caprichos were withdrawn from public sale very shortly after their release in 1799. In 1803 Goya offered the Caprichos’ copper plates and the first edition’s unsold sets to King Carlos IV. Later in life Goya wrote that he had felt it prudent to withdraw the prints from circulation due to the Inquisition. Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “LES CAPRICES” produced in a small Limited Edition of 412 sets, printed on quality paper and executed with the supervision of de La Bibliotheque Nationale, Madrid on “Arches” watermarked Laid paper. Each Engraved work measure 5.5 by 7.5 inches, plus lettering. Sheet measures 13 by 9 inches in great condition. See enclosed image of the colophon. The colophon is not included with the purchase but can be down loaded for your records. Platemark measures 8.50 by 5.75 inches.   « Less

Francisco Goya “No Hay Quien Nos Desate ” Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “Les  More »

Francisco Goya “No Hay Quien Nos Desate ” Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “Les Caprices” produced in a small Limited Edition of 412 sets, printed on quality paper and executed with the supervision of de La Bibliotheque Nationale, Madrid on “Arches” watermarked Laid paper. Each engraved work measures 5.5 by 7.5 inches, plus lettering. Sheet measures 13 by 9 inches in great condition. See enclosed image of the colophon. Platemark measures 8.50 by 5.75 inches. The colophon is not included with the purchase but can be down loaded for your records. Los Caprichos are a set of 80 aquatint prints created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797 and 1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya’s condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived. The criticisms are far-ranging and acidic; he speaks against the predominance of superstition, the ignorance and inabilities of the various members of the ruling class, pedagogical short-comings, marital mistakes, and the decline of rationality. Some of the prints have anticlerical themes. Goya described the series as depicting “the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual”. The work was an enlightened, tour-de-force critique of 18th-century Spain, and humanity in general. The informal style, as well as the depiction of contemporary society found in Caprichos, makes them – and Goya himself – a precursor to the modernist movement almost a century later. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters in particular has attained an iconic status. Goya added brief explanations of each image to a manuscript now in the Prado; these help greatly to explain his often cryptic intentions, as do the titles printed below each image. Goya’s series, and the last group of prints in his series The Disasters of War, which he called “caprichos enfáticos” (“emphatic caprices”) are far from the spirit of light-hearted fantasy the term caprice usually suggests in art. Los Caprichos were withdrawn from public sale very shortly after their release in 1799. In 1803 Goya offered the Caprichos’ copper plates and the first edition’s unsold sets to King Carlos IV. Later in life Goya wrote that he had felt it prudent to withdraw the prints from circulation due to the Inquisition. Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an Aragonese Spanish painter and printmaker. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. He has been regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. 
The engraved images that make up Goya’s most important series of prints, Los Caprichos (1799), have long been recognized as one of the supreme monuments of European art. Goya, royal painter to the kings of Spain during the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries, eventually died in exile, both of his major print series having been “donated” to the crown to protect him from the Inquisition. A believer in the potential power of reason, his works show what happens when reason is trampled underfoot by individual human follies and corrupt social customs. In these works Goya looks at his country and memorializes it as a monument to desperation, folly, arrogance, incompetence, and the need that some of his subjects have to try to control the uncontrollable.   « Less

Francisco Goya Pobrecitas Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an Aragonese Spanish painter  More »

Francisco Goya Pobrecitas Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an Aragonese Spanish painter and printmaker. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. He has been regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. 
The engraved images that make up Goya’s most important series of prints, Los Caprichos (1799), have long been recognized as one of the supreme monuments of European art. Goya, royal painter to the kings of Spain during the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries, eventually died in exile, both of his major print series having been “donated” to the crown to protect him from the Inquisition. A believer in the potential power of reason, his works show what happens when reason is trampled underfoot by individual human follies and corrupt social customs. In these works Goya looks at his country and memorializes it as a monument to desperation, folly, arrogance, incompetence, and the need that some of his subjects have to try to control the uncontrollable. Los Caprichos are a set of 80 aquatint prints created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797 and 1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya’s condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived. The criticisms are far-ranging and acidic; he speaks against the predominance of superstition, the ignorance and inabilities of the various members of the ruling class, pedagogical short-comings, marital mistakes, and the decline of rationality. Some of the prints have anticlerical themes. Goya described the series as depicting “the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual”. The work was an enlightened, tour-de-force critique of 18th-century Spain, and humanity in general. The informal style, as well as the depiction of contemporary society found in Caprichos, makes them – and Goya himself – a precursor to the modernist movement almost a century later. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters in particular has attained an iconic status. Goya added brief explanations of each image to a manuscript now in the Prado; these help greatly to explain his often cryptic intentions, as do the titles printed below each image. Goya’s series, and the last group of prints in his series The Disasters of War, which he called “caprichos enfáticos” (“emphatic caprices”) are far from the spirit of light-hearted fantasy the term caprice usually suggests in art. Los Caprichos were withdrawn from public sale very shortly after their release in 1799. In 1803 Goya offered the Caprichos’ copper plates and the first edition’s unsold sets to King Carlos IV. Later in life Goya wrote that he had felt it prudent to withdraw the prints from circulation due to the Inquisition. Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “LES CAPRICES” produced in a small Limited Edition of 412 sets, printed on quality paper and executed with the supervision of de La Bibliotheque Nationale, Madrid on “Arches” watermarked Laid paper. Each Engraved work measure 5.5 by 7.5 inches, plus lettering. Sheet measures 13 by 9 inches in great condition. See enclosed image of the colophon. The colophon is not included with the purchase but can be down loaded for your records. Platemark measures 8.50 by 5.75 inches.   « Less

Francisco Goya Esta Um Pues, Como Digo Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an Aragonese  More »

Francisco Goya Esta Um Pues, Como Digo Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an Aragonese Spanish painter and printmaker. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. He has been regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. 
The engraved images that make up Goya’s most important series of prints, Los Caprichos (1799), have long been recognized as one of the supreme monuments of European art. Goya, royal painter to the kings of Spain during the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries, eventually died in exile, both of his major print series having been “donated” to the crown to protect him from the Inquisition. A believer in the potential power of reason, his works show what happens when reason is trampled underfoot by individual human follies and corrupt social customs. In these works Goya looks at his country and memorializes it as a monument to desperation, folly, arrogance, incompetence, and the need that some of his subjects have to try to control the uncontrollable. Los Caprichos are a set of 80 aquatint prints created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797 and 1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya’s condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived. The criticisms are far-ranging and acidic; he speaks against the predominance of superstition, the ignorance and inabilities of the various members of the ruling class, pedagogical short-comings, marital mistakes, and the decline of rationality. Some of the prints have anticlerical themes. Goya described the series as depicting “the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual”. The work was an enlightened, tour-de-force critique of 18th-century Spain, and humanity in general. The informal style, as well as the depiction of contemporary society found in Caprichos, makes them – and Goya himself – a precursor to the modernist movement almost a century later. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters in particular has attained an iconic status. Goya added brief explanations of each image to a manuscript now in the Prado; these help greatly to explain his often cryptic intentions, as do the titles printed below each image. Goya’s series, and the last group of prints in his series The Disasters of War, which he called “caprichos enfáticos” (“emphatic caprices”) are far from the spirit of light-hearted fantasy the term caprice usually suggests in art. Los Caprichos were withdrawn from public sale very shortly after their release in 1799. In 1803 Goya offered the Caprichos’ copper plates and the first edition’s unsold sets to King Carlos IV. Later in life Goya wrote that he had felt it prudent to withdraw the prints from circulation due to the Inquisition. Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “LES CAPRICES” produced in a small Limited Edition of 412 sets, printed on quality paper and executed with the supervision of de La Bibliotheque Nationale, Madrid on “Arches” watermarked Laid paper. Each Engraved work measure 5.5 by 7.5 inches, plus lettering. Sheet measures 13 by 9 inches in great condition. See enclosed image of the colophon. The colophon is not included with the purchase but can be down loaded for your records. Platemark measures 8.50 by 5.75 inches. --   « Less

Francisco Goya Mejor Es Hotgar Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “Les Caprices” produced in a small  More »

Francisco Goya Mejor Es Hotgar Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “Les Caprices” produced in a small Limited Edition of 412 sets, printed on quality paper and executed with the supervision of de La Bibliotheque Nationale, Madrid on “Arches” watermarked Laid paper. Each engraved work measures 5.5 by 7.5 inches, plus lettering. Sheet measures 13 by 9 inches in great condition. See enclosed image of the colophon. Platemark measures 8.50 by 5.75 inches. The colophon is not included with the purchase but can be down loaded for your records. Los Caprichos are a set of 80 aquatint prints created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797 and 1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya’s condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived. The criticisms are far-ranging and acidic; he speaks against the predominance of superstition, the ignorance and inabilities of the various members of the ruling class, pedagogical short-comings, marital mistakes, and the decline of rationality. Some of the prints have anticlerical themes. Goya described the series as depicting “the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual”. The work was an enlightened, tour-de-force critique of 18th-century Spain, and humanity in general. The informal style, as well as the depiction of contemporary society found in Caprichos, makes them – and Goya himself – a precursor to the modernist movement almost a century later. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters in particular has attained an iconic status. Goya added brief explanations of each image to a manuscript now in the Prado; these help greatly to explain his often cryptic intentions, as do the titles printed below each image. Goya’s series, and the last group of prints in his series The Disasters of War, which he called “caprichos enfáticos” (“emphatic caprices”) are far from the spirit of light-hearted fantasy the term caprice usually suggests in art. Los Caprichos were withdrawn from public sale very shortly after their release in 1799. In 1803 Goya offered the Caprichos’ copper plates and the first edition’s unsold sets to King Carlos IV. Later in life Goya wrote that he had felt it prudent to withdraw the prints from circulation due to the Inquisition. Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an Aragonese Spanish painter and printmaker. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. He has been regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. 
The engraved images that make up Goya’s most important series of prints, Los Caprichos (1799), have long been recognized as one of the supreme monuments of European art. Goya, royal painter to the kings of Spain during the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries, eventually died in exile, both of his major print series having been “donated” to the crown to protect him from the Inquisition. A believer in the potential power of reason, his works show what happens when reason is trampled underfoot by individual human follies and corrupt social customs. In these works Goya looks at his country and memorializes it as a monument to desperation, folly, arrogance, incompetence, and the need that some of his subjects have to try to control the uncontrollable.   « Less

Francisco Goya “Fragala Perro” Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “Les Caprices” produced  More »

Francisco Goya “Fragala Perro” Limited Edition Etching-Aquatint Here we are offering fine quality Etching-Aquatint of “Les Caprices” produced in a small Limited Edition of 412 sets, printed on quality paper and executed with the supervision of de La Bibliotheque Nationale, Madrid on “Arches” watermarked Laid paper. Each engraved work measures 5.5 by 7.5 inches, plus lettering. Sheet measures 13 by 9 inches in great condition. See enclosed image of the colophon. Platemark measures 8.50 by 5.75 inches. The colophon is not included with the purchase but can be down loaded for your records. Los Caprichos are a set of 80 aquatint prints created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797 and 1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya’s condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived. The criticisms are far-ranging and acidic; he speaks against the predominance of superstition, the ignorance and inabilities of the various members of the ruling class, pedagogical short-comings, marital mistakes, and the decline of rationality. Some of the prints have anticlerical themes. Goya described the series as depicting “the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual”. The work was an enlightened, tour-de-force critique of 18th-century Spain, and humanity in general. The informal style, as well as the depiction of contemporary society found in Caprichos, makes them – and Goya himself – a precursor to the modernist movement almost a century later. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters in particular has attained an iconic status. Goya added brief explanations of each image to a manuscript now in the Prado; these help greatly to explain his often cryptic intentions, as do the titles printed below each image. Goya’s series, and the last group of prints in his series The Disasters of War, which he called “caprichos enfáticos” (“emphatic caprices”) are far from the spirit of light-hearted fantasy the term caprice usually suggests in art. Los Caprichos were withdrawn from public sale very shortly after their release in 1799. In 1803 Goya offered the Caprichos’ copper plates and the first edition’s unsold sets to King Carlos IV. Later in life Goya wrote that he had felt it prudent to withdraw the prints from circulation due to the Inquisition. Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 — April 16, 1828) was an Aragonese Spanish painter and printmaker. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. He has been regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. 
The engraved images that make up Goya’s most important series of prints, Los Caprichos (1799), have long been recognized as one of the supreme monuments of European art. Goya, royal painter to the kings of Spain during the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries, eventually died in exile, both of his major print series having been “donated” to the crown to protect him from the Inquisition. A believer in the potential power of reason, his works show what happens when reason is trampled underfoot by individual human follies and corrupt social customs. In these works Goya looks at his country and memorializes it as a monument to desperation, folly, arrogance, incompetence, and the need that some of his subjects have to try to control the uncontrollable.   « Less