The Little Prisoner

(After) Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1786-1828, Spanish) “The Little Prisoner” (post 1867) - Posthumous restrike etching on wove paper depicting a prisoner in chains symbolizing Goya’s view of the human suffering of people imprisoned and tortured. Text beneath the image: "Gazette des Beaux-Arts. - Imp. Delâtre, Paris" (published by Auguste Delâtre in the ‘Gazette des Beaux-Arts’ - volume XXII, p. 196 issued in 1867). The 4 x 3-inch image is on a 9.5 x 6.25-inch sheet and has been triple matted in a 16.5 x 12.5-inch frame. Literature: Tomás Harris, “Francisco Goya: Engravings and Lithographs” (1964.)

The etching was created circa 1804 – 1820 by Francisco De Goya and was known as “Tan Bárbara la Seguridad Como el Delito” (The imprisonment is as barbarous as the crime). The image was later reproduced as an etching printed by Delâtre as “Le Petit Prisonier” (The Little Prisoner) and published by Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XXII, Paris in 1867.

Francisco de Goya was an artist renowned for his portraits of the Spanish elite having been appointed official court painter for King Charles IV. He also privately painted small works that presented the dark side of the human condition, exploring themes of helplessness, confinement, torture, suffering, and sadism.