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拍品专文
Titled Lo que puede un sastre! ('What a tailor can do!'), plate 52 of the Caprichos shows a young woman and other figures falling on their knees in front of a broken tree dressed as a bogeyman. It is clearly an allegory for the gullibility of the people, arguing that it takes very little to make them believe - in superstition, religion, authority and power. The demons in the air, depicted in delicate etched lines only, are clearly figments of the woman's fantasy, demonstrating how willingly her imagination adds to the charade.
Goya seems to have completed the plates almost without revisions before he started printing the edition; there are very few working or trial proofs of the Caprichos, most of which only show errors and omissions in the titles or tiny differences in the subject compared to the finished prints, such as the present example. Yet, these earliest impressions, pulled from pristine plates, allow us to appreciate Goya's mastery of etching and aquatint in their full splendour and subtlety.
Goya seems to have completed the plates almost without revisions before he started printing the edition; there are very few working or trial proofs of the Caprichos, most of which only show errors and omissions in the titles or tiny differences in the subject compared to the finished prints, such as the present example. Yet, these earliest impressions, pulled from pristine plates, allow us to appreciate Goya's mastery of etching and aquatint in their full splendour and subtlety.