She fleeces him (Le descañona)
Original title: Plate 35 from "Los Caprichos": She fleeces him (Le descañona)
kurzbeschreibung
Plate 35 from Los Caprichos, titled "She Flees Him" (original: "Le descañona"), was made in 1799 by Francisco de Goya. Three women appear in an intimate situation: one sits while two others attend to her hair and a basket. The technique combines etching with burnished aquatint.
Description
In the foreground, a woman sits on a chair wrapped in a long dress with lace trim; her posture seems calm. Behind her stand two women, one holding a bunch of hair, the other a basket, and they appear to be combing or arranging her hair. The background stays dark and bare, making the figures stand out clearly. Light falls from the upper left, highlighting faces and hair, while the gray tones of aquatint create fine nuances. The interaction feels cheerfully ironic, as is typical of Goya's Caprichos.
Context
Between 1797 and 1799, Goya created the 80 etchings of Los Caprichos, a satirical series that attacked social ills, superstition, and the follies of his era. Published in 1799, the series was soon withdrawn from sale because of its biting criticism of the nobility and clergy. Plate 35 belongs to a group dealing with prostitution and female cunning—a recurring theme in Goya's oeuvre. The Spanish title "Le descañona" describes an ironic or ambiguous action.
Impact
The etching evokes an ambivalent mood that oscillates between everyday ordinariness and ironic sharpening—typical of the Caprichos. The dark, high-contrast arrangement draws the eye to the figures and their interaction, which feels both familiar and strange. The quiet comedy arises from the calm, almost genre-like depiction of an event that is allegorically charged.
Technique
Executed as an etching with burnished aquatint, the print allows for fine tonal gradations and soft gray transitions. The etched lines define the contours, while the aquatint models areas, especially in the shadows. Goya worked on copper plates and printed in black on light paper, which enhances the light-dark effect.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)