Plate 2 from ‘Los Caprichos’ : They say yes and give their hand to the first comer (El si pronuncian y la mano alargen al primero que llega)

Description

In They say yes and give their hand to the first comer, a young woman enters a marriage arrangement amid figures whose expressions complicate the apparent ceremony. Francisco Goya’s They Say Yes and Give Their Hand to the First Comer questions the ease with which consent can become a social performance. The gathering offers the outward form of a union while leaving its inner sympathies uncertain.

Plate 2 of Los Caprichos, published in 1799, introduces the series’ searching attention to appearances, courtship and interested behavior. Etching and burnished aquatint distinguish faces, clothing and the clustered company. The caption treats the spoken agreement as something potentially careless or calculated. Goya’s satire rests in that distance between a formal gesture and a meaningful commitment, allowing the scene’s respectability to become increasingly uneasy the longer it is considered.

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