They Blow Into Their Ears

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes

Etching and burnished aquatint on laid paper

Museo del Prado

This print belongs to Francisco de Goya's landmark series Los Caprichos, a set of 80 aquatint etchings created between 1797 and 1798 and published in Madrid in 1799. The series was conceived as a biting satirical experiment targeting the follies, superstitions, and moral corruption of late 18th-century Spanish society, with imagery ranging from grotesque witch scenes to caricatures of the clergy and nobility. Goya employed the technically demanding aquatint process to create dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, giving the prints an unsettling, dream-like atmosphere that would prove deeply influential on later Romantic and Expressionist art. This image, whose title refers to the act of whispering or blowing into ears — associated with tale-bearing and moral corruption — exemplifies Goya's use of fantastical allegory to deliver sharp social critique under the threat of the Inquisition.