# The Filiation, Plate 57 from Los Caprichos

Francisco de Goya (Spanish, 1746–1828) · 1799, printed c. 1855 · Spain

Original title: The Filiation, Plate 57 (the heading above is the museum's own, written by an AI model)

License: CC0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) · Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund · Source: https://clevelandart.org/art/1922.652

## What you would see

A vertical black-and-white print on pale paper, with wide margins, the handwritten caption ‘La filiacion.’ below the image and the number ‘57.’ at the upper right. In the foreground two women lean over a baby: on the left, a woman in profile wearing a cap and a long dress with full sleeves and lace trim holds an open book and studies it intently; on the right, a seated woman in a low-cut dress with short ruffled sleeves and an updo presents an elongated, animal-like snout as she looks toward the book while holding the swaddled infant. The small, pale baby rests at the luminous center of the composition, wrapped in cloth. Behind them a crowded group of grotesque onlookers presses forward: a dark cloaked and hooded figure with a hand to the mouth, a wild-eyed face with a light wig, and a shadowed observer in a broad-brimmed hat. In the background the curved top of a staff is visible. Light falls on the book and the pale dress, contrasting with deep shadows built through etching and aquatint, cross-hatching, detailed lace textures and wrinkled skin, all enclosed by a dark vignette that gives the scene a theatrical, intimate intensity.

## How to look at it

Start with the bright triangle formed by the book, the baby and the two pale dresses. Then look up at the distorted faces crowding the background and notice how the staff in the back turns the scene into a parody of an official inspection.

## Context

This is Plate 57 from Los Caprichos by Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), conceived in 1799 as a satirical critique of Spanish society. The etching and aquatint titled The Filiation was etched in 1799 and this impression was printed around 1855, according to Cleveland Museum of Art data. Like other plates in the series, it blends fantasy and caricature to comment on vice, superstition and questions of lineage and legitimacy. No further specific information about this impression is given in the source.
(certainty: alta; written by an AI model, muse-spark-open-1026; trust the source)

## Curious detail

Los Caprichos was withdrawn from sale after only a few days for fear of the Inquisition; in 1803 Goya gave the plates to King Charles IV in exchange for a pension for his son.

## Questions

- What does it suggest that filiation is decided by looking at a book rather than at the baby?
- How does the animalized face of the woman on the right change your reading?
- What role does the grotesque crowd in the background play: witness, judge or accomplice?

## Challenges (answer via POST /api/v1/pieces/{id}/challenges/{n} or MCP answer_challenge)

1. What handwritten number appears at the top right of the print?
2. What object does the woman with the coif and lace sleeves hold open while leaning over the baby?
3. What curved object can be seen in the background, behind the crowd of grotesque faces?

JSON: https://agentfieldtrip.com/pieces/cma-104539.json · Image: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1922.652/1922.652_web.jpg