The Eagle Hunter

Getty Museum

The Eagle Hunter

Creator

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Francisco de Goya)

Spanish Artist · 1746–1828

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Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes welcomed and received official honors and worldly success with enthusiasm. At the same time he left a ruthlessly penetrating record of his patrons and private expressions of introspection, moral objectivity, and caustic commentary on his times. By the 1780s Goya was Spain's leading painter, specializing in religious pictures and portraits. He acknowledged three m

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Object Description · Getty Museum

In this drawing, bold line work, various gradations of wash, and striking use of the reserve compellingly render eagle hunting as a brutal and slightly comic task. The hunter precariously dangles from a precipice by a thin rope taut around his waist. Only a metal cooking pot on his head and padded trousers protect him from the sharp beaks of the eaglets and the rugged cliff. Hovering in midair while attempting to pluck the young birds from a nest tucked into a crevice, the eagle hunter remains completely unaware of his impending doom. With sharp talons outstretched, a large adult eagle is about to return to the nest with a hapless rabbit in its beak. The open wicker basket that insecurely hangs from the hunter’s waist and holds an eaglet further points to the futility of this act. The scene could very well be an illustration of the proverb: He who would take will himself be taken. Goya drew this composition with common writing ink on inexpensive Spanish paper—materials that the artist was forced to use during the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. Like his subject matter, the drawing medium and support themselves bear the imprint of desperation. Originally part of Goya’s Images of Spain Album (Album F), this sheet is a highly personal rumination that is not related to further work in any direct sense.

Getty Museum’s catalogue record

produced_by.carried_out_by[0].id
https://data.getty.edu/museum/collection/person/acb10605-639f-4c07-8936-d1a64a830794
Artist/Maker
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Francisco de Goya)
subject_of[Homepage].id
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/109NEX
Date
about 1812–1820
Medium
Brush and brown wash, on laid paper
Culture
Spanish
Object Type
Drawing

Taken from LinkedCulture’s stored copy of Getty Museum’s record. A fresh capture of the museum’s own record has not been made for this object yet.

From LinkedCulture

A man dangles from a cliff on a thin rope, a metal cooking pot on his head, stealing eaglets from a nest, completely unaware of the adult eagle diving toward him with talons outstretched and a rabbit in its beak. Francisco de Goya drew this scene around 1812 to 1820, using ordinary writing ink on cheap paper, the only materials available during the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. The result is both darkly comic and devastating, a proverb made visible: he who would take will himself be taken.

Written by LinkedCulture for its video on this object. Machine-generated (claude-sonnet-4-6), not yet reviewed by a person. It is not part of the museum’s record.

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Open this page QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.zcm_XUfDxqm5vgcL.BROlYF1ohZP9osTNYzXJizZrebjqY-lSU9_zuIRBPiffJPG_4zUDXFLSWt3gtIXrydQMir6khfN8lVRlG5wfr8t--1GG480TVDh8I2uiyTTIDsYiDGHRnnBV3n3UWLCD6bNja02BwMdGdpSW6otxTyIeXphgE0OyFfGsFhxbPIU2xSjpp8Bc57lJV1HzU0dnht9Xic6HKeaUipm08G-gLambiOFGj2nVxWXmXgd7VIMeWC_wAw3SZfNhA9KNN37VRveM8zhiSxw-ILojpLg5y5QMBBhzHjsuBP3rSrkY8dEbp7egv-sgDHRuWPbDBmEEW4UbQtmUv8pTk0RDhbt9e_Pr6Xd6rGT5FAvfMXn2uoaJOc0ItyTuyZdrlSG7h3qkZU_Fdb6T9jrCjXK1VAxDSee at Getty Museum QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.OLeiMon-OvQ7lwoB.2s5QU59EUzHvhvf1dQhonYfW7JcDZ33OQ996ukYTT7ospfXp5sidbBLvWqrXg_g6sXFC2jmpkquwhyzTxohC1AY71dVEzh9SEIyBIPrBB-iXXAX2pnfN0Z4sF8JxzVSCfw9SdbJKFUiyEXjnfr4SV79Oy71uCG6AvqOwGNCSmQLm3eG5Ng7tqeDzfs73CWGSDUEtajz_2QPBBDE9_yLzgiryElmRh10DmSXQZOGsyAs7q9WflqUbiH7ileuK45db1voadXROji-PTmxkLA9GIaL4Y618Qw4KrtQhuDK5Kw3Bw6Cm2hbohTvo8V22CHPev_9n2p0wyebMgurBuuTOxsfmLnGnKQzLUuB5b8iZZaX-JgsPYTnVBhU5bIg
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Object ID
766e59c9-0666-4c66-bc32-75e7c3835af3
Object Type
Drawing
  • Getty Museum field “Object Type” · copied as is
Creator
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Francisco de Goya)
  • Getty Museum field “Artist/Maker” · copied as is
Culture
Spanish
  • Getty Museum field “Culture” · copied as is
Medium
Brush and brown wash, on laid paper
  • Getty Museum field “Medium” · copied as is
Department
Drawings
  • Getty Museum field “Department” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field · Getty's classification category is stored as department.
Credit Line
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
  • Getty Museum field “Standard Credit Line” · the first available of several museum fields
  • Getty Museum field “Source Credit Line” · the first available of several museum fields
Date
about 1812–1820
  • Getty Museum field “Date” · copied as is
Begin Year
1812
  • Getty Museum field “produced_by.timespan.begin_of_the_begin” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field
End Year
1820
  • Getty Museum field “produced_by.timespan.end_of_the_end” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field

The museum’s own record has not been captured for this object yet, so the museum fields shown above are limited to values LinkedCulture stored unchanged.

LinkedCulture video

The Eagle Hunter

Sep 19, 2026 · Short

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