Description
In Hobgoblins, monk-like goblins eat and drink together, giving a familiar gathering an uncanny character. Francisco Goya’s Hobgoblins brings the fantastic close to ordinary human behavior, allowing familiar gestures to survive within strange bodies. The title makes them creatures of superstition, but their activity retains the flavor of a social gathering.
Published in 1799 as plate 49 of Los Caprichos, the etching and burnished aquatint give the figures a dense presence against their shadowed setting. Goya’s imaginative creatures often expose recognizable habits without requiring a fixed identification for every participant. Here, the appeal lies in that uneasy familiarity. The viewer can recognize the rhythms of a small company while remaining uncertain about its nature, making the supernatural seem less distant from everyday society than it first appears.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Goya collection.
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