There they go plucked
Ca. 1797. Red wash on silk paper.Not on display
Goya used the drawing in Album A of a young woman sweeping to design this complex scene of a brothel, which is also preparatory work for an etching for the Caprichos. The first contemporary comments written about the print stated: “After the copulation with the avechuchos, the whores shoo them out with blows from their brooms, plucked, cripple and crestfallen”…. The term avechucho refers to a despicable person for its habits an pluck someone means strip them of their fortune. This criticism extends equally to clients and prostitutes.
Matilla Rodríguez, José Manuel, Ligereza y atrevimiento. Dibujos de Goya, Santander, Fundación Botín, 2017, p.37 n.5; 160 n. 5