Description
In She prays for her, an older woman prays beside a younger figure, their differing postures bringing devotion and worldly circumstance into close contact. Francisco Goya’s She Prays for Her makes intercession its apparent subject, but the title offers little certainty about the relationship between the pair. The prayerful action invites attention to both sincere concern and the possibility of interested piety.
Plate 31 of Los Caprichos, published in 1799, uses etched detail and burnished aquatint to give the scene a concentrated atmosphere. Goya’s satire often allows familiar gestures to retain several meanings at once. Here, the act of prayer is neither dismissed nor allowed to explain everything around it. The image’s tension comes from that incomplete correspondence between action and intention, encouraging a careful look at the human circumstances beneath a recognizable display of devotion.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Goya collection.
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