Neither More nor Less (Ni mas ni menos) by Francisco Goya (Interpretation and Analysis)

Neither More nor Less
Source: MET Museum

Today, I want to return to one of my favorite topics in art, Francisco Goya’s groundbreaking series of prints: Los Caprichos. Goya published Los Caprichos—a series of etchings that depict the social ills of contemporary Spanish culture, in 1799—at the dawn of a new century that would change Spain forever.

This print, entitled Ni Mas ni Menos (Neither More nor Less), is part of the Capricho’s so-called asses sequence, which presents a series of images of donkeys acting in human roles. The print, number 41 in the series, offers a direct satire of an art form vital to Goya’s artistic career: portraiture. Here, we see a grinning ass posing for a portrait. The title of the print seems to be his instructions to the painter, a monkey; the donkey wants to be painted as “neither more nor less” than he actually is. Of course, as can be seen in the half finished portrait, this is not what the ass really wants. The monkey has painted a rather solemn, dignified picture, whereas the real donkey cuts a somewhat ridiculous figure.

A contemporary description of the print (from the Prado Manuscript) says of the donkey, “he is quite right to have his portrait painted; thus those who do not know him and have not seen him will know who he is.” The sarcastic subtext here is not only that the viewer will not know who he is because the artist has altered his appearance, but also that it little matters if others “know who he is.” The idea of an ass having his portrait painted is utterly ridiculous; he is, after all, a donkey. Goya criticizes the false vanity and egregious egoism of self-important aristocrats who are, in reality, of little more value than donkeys. Goya has an enlightened disdain of idle aristocrats, arguing that, “an animal that has his picture done will not stop himself from appearing as an animal, even if he is painted with a ruff and tries to be grave.” Though a donkey may look like a man of sense and reason, he is still a donkey.

It is one of many Caprichos that deal with deception and misrepresentation, the bane of Enlightened thought. While Goya uses aquatint to create the dark background of this print, he highlights the ass’s face and the monkey’s paintbrush to draw the viewer’s attention to the visual deception being perpetuated.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.