Shackled Prisoner
Ca. 1815. Grey-brown wash, Red chalk, Black chalk on laid paper.Not on display
Goya’s concern with abuses of power recurs in his work from the 1790s onward and can be related to the international debate spurred by the publication of Cesare Beccaria’s Dei delitti e delle pene (1764), which called for the abolition of cruel punishments, torture, and the death penalty and for the swift administration of justice. This drawing is preparatory to the print If He Is Guilty, Let Him Die Quickly. Using deep washes, the artist evokes the atmosphere of prisons, which recall those in Piranesi’s Carceri.
Matilla, J.M. Mena M.B., Goya: dibujos. Solo la voluntad me sobra, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2019, p.326 nº 219
