Bordeaux Sketchbook G, sheet 30. In this precisely orchestrated composition, the principal figure, an apparently rational being judging by his gentlemanly garments, lives among animals. These have clear symbolic meanings, representing ignorance, stupidity, and their owner’s distorted moral values. The cat, tied to the bench with a ring, is a noctural creature, while the parrot speaks meaningless chatter. The creature on the left, which the man sets violently against the cat, may be a lynx disguised in a cap and gown. Goya stresses the figure’s isolation, condemned to an unproductive life in the company of unsentient beings.

Matilla, J.M. Mena M.B., Goya: dibujos. Solo la voluntad me sobra, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2019, p.255 nº165