Goya Gold

Yesterday I was afforded a wonderful opportunity. My Art history lecturer had arranged for our group to visit the SA Gallery study room to view some Goya prints from their collection. Associate curator of Drawing,Prints and Photographs, Maria Zagala chose some prints from Goya's los Caprichos series - what a treat! To view these prints outside of a frame is nothing short of magic.

This series was all about what Goya considered to be the foolishness of men and women. Some pertain to the inquisition too.They contain strong elements of social comment of the time but what is amazing to me is the quality of the printing and the tonality that has been achieved. The man was a pioneer in the way he used aquatint to create every tone from a light grey to a strong charcoal. The plates were made of copper and the line work in these etchings is really impressive. Even in these pics you can see how white the white is - that takes some skill let me tell you!

I was surprised to learn that the prints the Gallery owns are from the first edition - that is pretty special I reckon. Whislt the images I have shown here are not all that crisp, in real life they are as crisp and clean as the day they were made. Imagine that, they were printed in 1799 for Heaven's sake! Maria showed us 14 of the 80 prints and 2 prints from the Disasters of War series - they are too grim to reproduce here though! I am still amazed that I could get up close and personal with these prints - imagine that!