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The Custody is as Barbarous as the Crime ("The Little Prisoner")

A work made of etching and burin on cream laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of etching and burin on cream laid paper.

Date:

1810/20

Artist:

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Spanish, 1746-1828

About this artwork

The Custody Is as Barbarous as the Crime, one of only three irregular plates produced for the Disasters of War series, was not printed and bound into the volume like the other working proofs but was added at the end. The etching features a prisoner crouching with his wrists and ankles restrained. Line in addition to aquatint creates the exceedingly dark atmosphere. Goya pays special attention to the prisoner’s contorted posture, the tangled mess of his hair, and the reflection of dim light on the chains binding his arms.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes

Title

The Custody is as Barbarous as the Crime ("The Little Prisoner")

Place

Spain (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1810–1820

Medium

Etching and burin on cream laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 9.9 × 7.4 cm (3 15/16 × 2 15/16 in.); Plate: 11 × 8.5 cm (4 3/8 × 3 3/8 in.); Sheet: 25.3 × 18.4 cm (10 × 7 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

William McCallin McKee Memorial Endowment

Reference Number

1945.9

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/52670/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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