Art Institute of Chicago

Of what ill will he die?, plate 40 from Los Caprichos

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes

Date

1797–98, published 1799

Medium

Etching and aquatint in brown on ivory laid paper

Culture

Spain

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

One of Goya’s best-known publications, Los Caprichos is an album of 80 whimsical prints that carry a biting critique of society’s foolishness. In the absurd scenario seen here, the artist ridicules the medical profession by depicting a doctor as a jackass. It is unclear whether the patient is dying from an illness or from the ignorant physician’s administrations. Goya originally conceived the project as a series of dreams. On an early draft of the frontispiece, now in the collection of Museo del Prado in Madrid, he wrote, “The author dreaming. His only intention is to banish harmful beliefs commonly held and to perpetuate with this work of caprices the solid testimony of truth.”

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