Plate 37 from ‘Los Caprichos’: Might not the pupil know more? (Si Sabrá mas el discipulo?)

Description

In Might not the pupil know more?, a donkey teaches another donkey, turning the familiar relationship between instructor and pupil into a pointed comparison of ignorance. Francisco Goya’s Might Not the Pupil Know More? questions the teacher’s presumed superiority. The activity retains the outward form of education while the animal participants make that form look inadequate.

Published in 1799 as plate 37 of Los Caprichos, the etching and burnished aquatint give the lesson a serious-looking presence that intensifies its absurdity. Goya’s caption asks whether authority is supported by understanding or simply inherited with a role. The scene’s humor comes from the possibility that the learner has been placed beneath someone no better informed. Its broader interest lies in the distinction between instruction and repetition, suggesting that the organization of a lesson cannot guarantee its value.

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