Look how Solemn they Are! (Miren que Grabes!) by Francisco Goya (Interpretation and Analysis)

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Look how Solemn they Are!
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 Miren que Grabes! (which translates to Look how Solemn they Are!) is the sixty-third print in the series. It presents a criticism of Spain’s hereditary nobility. Here, we see two monstrous “witches,” which many contemporary accounts identify as representatives of the nobility and clergy, sitting astride two donkey-like animals. It is noted that, “[o]ne of them is a courageous thief. The other is a fanatic savage. Such are the kings and principal magistrates of the towns. Even with all of this... [the people] acclaim them and trust them with their government.” Goya mocks the false righteousness and dignity of a social class that, though not fit to rule, is consistently allowed to hold leadership positions due to hereditary privilege and tradition.

Central to enlightenment thought in Goya’s time were notions of national welfare. As historian Richard Herr explains, enlightened thinkers believed that the “prosperity of the multitude would bring well-being to the nation.” They celebrated values such as “sobriety and industry.” There was no place for an idle aristocrat in this world view. Goya presents the idea that the nobleman “tak[ing] a little exercise on horseback,” is just as useless and ridiculous as a witch, riding about on his familiar; as a contemporary commentary notes, the creatures in this print are “riding on their vices.” Though they may appear “solemn” on horseback, the two figures are poisonous to national well-being. Instead, Goya calls upon the nobility to provide “service to society and compassion for inferiors” (in the words of Herr).

The print, composed mostly of etching, was part of the original Sueños series, the precursor to Los Caprichos. These early prints were characterized by the portrayal of “goblins” and witches. Goya also returns to this theme in Thou who canst not, a Capricho that post-dated Look how solemn they are! In Thou who canst not, as in Look how solemn they are!, the nobleman is presented as a, literal and figurative, burden to society.

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.

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