Aesopvs (Aesop)

Francisco Goya

Etching

Museo del Prado

This 1778 etching by Francisco Goya reproduces Diego Velázquez's celebrated portrait of Aesop, the ancient Greek fabulist, which Velázquez painted around 1640 for the royal hunting pavilion of Torre de la Parada and which is now housed in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Following Velázquez closely, Goya depicts Aesop as an elderly man in a worn brown smock, holding a book, with the inscription 'AESOPVS' appearing in the upper right corner to identify the subject. The etching is part of a series Goya produced in 1778, reproducing paintings by Velázquez from the Spanish Royal Collection, an ambitious project that demonstrated his deep engagement with the Old Master tradition and his mastery of printmaking. Goya intensified the drama of the original composition, emphasizing the contrast between light and shadow in the figure's worn, pensive face, revealing his own expressive sensibility even within the discipline of reproductive engraving.