Plate 23 from ‘Los Caprichos’: These specks of dust (Aquellos polbos.)

Description

In These specks of dust, a figure is displayed before a public gathering, with the arrangement of the scene making judgment visible as a collective act. Francisco Goya’s These Specks of Dust places an understated phrase beneath a grave situation. The distance between the smallness suggested by the title and the severity of the exposure gives the print a bitter edge.

Published in 1799 as plate 23 of Los Caprichos, the etching and burnished aquatint examine the machinery of condemnation through bodies, clothing and the presence of spectators. Goya allows a seemingly incidental expression to point toward larger consequences. The image is compelling because its social structure remains so clear: one person is made conspicuous while others possess the power to observe and assess. Its darkness lies in that imbalance as much as in its tonal setting.

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