The Chinchillas (Caprichos 50, D. 86, H. 84). Original etching and aquatint, c. 1798. A good impression from the sixth edition (230 impressions). There were about 610 impressions in the first five editions. Goya comments, "He who hears nothing, knows nothing, and does nothing belongs to the numerous family of the Chinchillas, which has always been good for nothing." Contemporary references identify the Chinchilas as nobles: "Those idiots who pride themselves on their nobility, let themselves go to laziness and superstitionn. They close off their understanding with padlocks while they are grossly fed by ignorance." This plate offers a different perspective on the folly of geneological pride illustrated in plate 39. Instead of the earlier plate's self-satisfied and well-dressed ass, this one depicts the nobility as victims of their own pride living like madmen in their own prisons of ignorance, clearly unfit to play any role in the nation. Image size: 215x150mm.
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