Description
In Wait Till You Have Been Anointed, Francisco Goya depicts an old sorcerer applying an ointment to a creature already changing into a goat. The being seems eager to rise into the air, but one leg remains conspicuously human beneath the sorcerer’s grip. A worn female observer watches the procedure. The pale opening behind this group makes their strange bodies and intent expressions stand out.
Published in 1799 as plate 67 of Los Caprichos, the print gives an impossible transformation the practical rhythm of a task not yet finished. Its impatient subject and matter-of-fact title make witchcraft resemble ordinary human foolishness. Goya’s precise anatomy and carefully arranged light lend credibility to the fantastic scene without explaining it away. The image invites both laughter and unease, leaving its human and animal boundaries unsettlingly incomplete.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Goya collection.
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