Growing after death
1796 - 1797. Pencil, Black chalk lines, Iron gall ink on laid paper.Not on display
This preparatory drawing for an unpublished plate from the Caprichos is one of twenty-six pen-and-ink drawings known as The Dreams, which constitute the basis for Los Caprichos. They are headed by Dream 1, the author dreaming (D03923), which presents a customary subject from that period. Growing after death can be interpreted from a socio-political standpoint, in the sense that, throughout history, it has been customary to praise the dead. Here, the gigantic figure reduced to skin and bones in the foreground is the deceased, and he is being carried by six smaller individuals whose origins and postures vary. The mummy wears a strange, mussed wig, indicating that he was a person of some importance. His archaic clothing recalls an earlier time than the drawing: a sumptuous buttoned frock coat with wide, turned cuffs, beneath which the points of a long vest are visible, along with tight breeches, stockings, a ruff collar and lace cuffs, and buckled shoes. Further back, to the left, a hybrid writer-reader bears the giant’s biography. He does not seem to belong to any specific political movement (an example of Goya’s universal character) but he will exaggerate, adulterate or rewrite whatever seems necessary in order to continue living in the shadow of the deceased, who lies at the origin of his corrupt interests. The other figures, whose postures are clearly uncomfortable, are complicit in that forced fame. The clergyman standing in the background to the left cooperates in this praise of the mummy’s virtues. Another individual, in the middle ground to the right, takes shelter behind the nobleman, keeping him firm as a flag for his own benefit, and he will do whatever is necessary to keep this from ending. The Museo del Prado has one work related to Dream 16: a preparatory drawing that was never engraved, titled Man with a skull, which is on the back of the study, Who will the ghost look at (D04374). (Text from: Rodríguez Torres, M.T.: Goya: heraldos de una colecta gráfica, Madrid: Villaverde, 2009, pp. 14-19).
