Francisco de Goya’s etching, “Against the Common Good”, 1814–15

Francisco de Goya (aka Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes) (1746–1828)

“Against the Common Good” (“Contra el Bien General”), 1814–15, plate 71 from the series of eighty plates, “The Disasters of War” (“Los Desastres de la Guerra”), published in Madrid in 1863 in “Los Desastres de la Guerra: Coleccion de ochenta láminas inventadas y grabadas al agua fuerte por Don Francisco Goya” (see https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/book/los-desastres-de-la-guerra-coleccion-de-ochenta-laminas-inventadas-y & https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/contra-el-bien-general).   

Etching and burnished aquatint on laid paper printed in a warm black ink on cream laid paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 25.9 x 32.1 cm; (plate) 17.6 x 21.1 cm; (image borderline) 14.7 x 18.5 cm.

Numbered and lettered in plate outside the image borderline: (upper left corner) “71”; (lower centre) “Contra el ‘bien general.”  

State iii (of iii) with the addition of the title.

Delteil 190 (Loys Delteil 1906, “Le Peintre-Graveur Illustré: (XIXe et XXe siècles)”, vol. 15, Paris, Chez lauteurp, cat. no. 190 [see https://archive.org/details/lepeintregraveur1415delt/page/n279/mode/2up]); Harris 191 (Tomás Harris 1964, “Goya: Engravings and Lithographs”, vol. I [text and Illustrations], vol. II [catalogue raisonné], Oxford).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Plate 71: demon with bat's wing ears sitting on chair writing in volume, with imploring figures below to right; from an unbound album of first impressions, 1863. c.1814-1815” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1975-1025-290).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression showing no sign of wear to the printing plate with wide margins in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this remarkable etching—possibly a demon from the Inquisition chronicling confessions from victims of judicial torture? (My apologies if I am wrong about this)—from Goya’s famous series, “The Disasters of War”, for the total cost of AU$988 (currently US$632.26/EUR545.74/GBP545.74 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this creatively inventive masterwork, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold