Plate 7 from "Los Caprichos": Even thus he cannot make her out (Ni asi la distingue)

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In Goya’s depiction of poor perception, a man with a monocle scrutinizes a maja, watched by figures seated in the background. His dress and body language, which link him to the ridiculed fop or dandy, and the fact that he is relying on sight alone suggest that he lacks the discernment to assess the woman’s true nature. The flirty and self-possessed maja has been identified as a prostitute and the man as a foolish admirer whose desires render him complicit with her deception. Thus, the scene also refers to a lack of understanding between the sexes, a theme Goya explored throughout the Caprichos.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art