Plate 70 from ‘Los Caprichos’: Devout Profession (Devota profesion.)

Description

In Devout Profession, a horned, dark figure presides over a gathering in which initiation and the reading of a text take on an ominous character. Francisco Goya’s Devout Profession brings the language of solemn commitment into the fantastic world of Los Caprichos. The scene makes allegiance visible through the participants’ attention to an imposing authority.

Published in 1799 as plate 70, the etching and aquatint give the ceremony both structure and unease. Goya’s title introduces a familiar vocabulary of devotion, but the figures unsettle its claim to spiritual seriousness. The print invites consideration of what people submit to when the outward form of belief replaces judgment. Its darkness lies in that organized acceptance, where a ritual can be carefully performed even as the power it serves has become grotesque and threatening.

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