This print reproduces the painting by Agustín Esteve in the Museo del Prado, P728, which was previously attributed to Goya in the 19th century, as the inscription indicates. This is print number 18 in the third volume of The Etching Engraver collection, which was offered for sale in the fifth issue from 1876. This issue comprised prints numbered 17 to 20. The copper plate is preserved in the Calcografía Nacional, Madrid (R. 5105). The third volume of this series (G153 to G184) is preserved in its entirety in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Museo del Prado.

The publication of the series The Etching Engraver, produced by the Society of Artists, had two main objectives. The first was to promote the copy of the great masters’ works, especially their lesser-known drawings. The second was to highlight the importance of the etching tradition in Spain as a historical precedent to the creative prints produced by contemporary etchers, which could also be included in the collection. The Society of Artists was made up of prominent engravers, mainly José Martínez de Espinosa, José María Galván, Bartolomé Maura, Francisco Torras Armengol and Ramón Casas, who were key figures in the debate on the art of engraving during the 19th century in Spain.

Since the beginning of the century, the dilemma between traditional engraving as a mode of reproduction and interpretative engraving had been raised; in other words, between remaining loyal to the original and the artist’s subjective interpretation. With the arrival of photography and its definitive implementation beginning in the seventies, interpretative engraving prevailed over copy engraving. One of its greatest advocates was Bartolomé Maura. Likewise, a new generation of etchers, who also belonged to this Society of Artists, such as Francisco Torras, José María Galván and José Martínez de Espinosa, defended the artist engraver as creator of original works. This point of view was in contrast to the standpoint of a group of important landscape painters led by Carlos Haes and his disciples. Creative etching was definitively the main novelty of The Etching Engraver, with numerous prints in this category among the pages of its three volumes. Some of these prints had been made by other engravers from outside the Society of Artists, such as Rafael Monleón, Juan Closas y Albert, Ignacio Tubau, Pineda and Eugenio Lemús.

The issues were published in monthly instalments of four prints each, between 1874 and 1878, in three volumes. The first two of them were published in 1874 and 1875, respectively, and the third one between 1876 and 1878. The first two volumes were made up of 48 prints each, while the third one was left unfinished at print number 32. The dates of the third volume have been estimated by referring to the years that appear on the prints. While 1876 appears in the inscription on the title page, 1878 appears in the inscription on printed image G182 in the eighth issue. According to Jesusa Vega, the instalments are numbered from 1 to 12 in each of the first two volumes and from 1 to 8 in the third one. However, according to the text printed on the covers of the booklets of some of the instalments in the Museo del Prado, these were numbered as a whole from number 1 to 32: the first instalment of the first volume was number 1, whereas the last one of the third volume was number 32.

The printing was carried out by the Calcografía Nacional, where a large number of the copper plates (R. 4606–4665) are still kept today. The paper used was specially made by Oseñalde in Guadalajara and was given variations in tone and pulp depending on the requirements of each plate. Three different types of printed images were made: artist’s proofs, proofs before writing and proofs with writing. The artist’s proof prints were offered for sale marked with a dry stamp and a handwritten number and were clearly intended to cater to the taste of modern print collectors. [Summarised from J. Vega, The Etching in 19th century Spain. Madrid, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Calcografía Nacional, 1985, pp. 9–12].

The Department of Prints and Drawings of the Museo del Prado holds the complete series of The Etching Engraver in a period print (G1952–G2047 and G153–G184), some loose prints issued in the 20th century (G1108–G1114), and the covers of issue 12, as well as issues 25 to 32, all of which printed on laid paper.