Plate 20 from ‘Los Caprichos’: There they go plucked (i.e. fleeced) (Ya van desplumados.)

Description

In There they go plucked, women drive away birdlike men who have already been stripped of their feathers, turning an encounter of attraction into an aftermath of humiliation. Francisco Goya’s There They Go Plucked makes the departing figures’ loss plainly visible. Their hybrid bodies preserve the fantastic character of the scene while their treatment remains recognizably human.

Plate 20 of Los Caprichos, published in 1799, follows the series’ imagery of bird-men drawn into exploitation. Etching and burnished aquatint make the dismissal brisk and bodily. The title treats the result with a sharp, almost casual familiarity, as though the pattern has been seen before. Goya’s satire lies in that completed transaction: once the victims have yielded what others wanted, they are no longer welcome. The print turns the promise of pleasure into a pointed account of disposability.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Goya collection.