XVIII

Editions

In comparing Goya’s extant working proofs with his editioned prints, it is possible to see the evolution of designs through compositional changes. The impressions from the first editions of the Los Caprichos and La Tauromaquia are likely to have been made under Goya’s supervision and although one was published seventeen years after the other, the printing techniques are very similar indicating they may have been produced by the same printer.⁶² Both sets are on laid paper in sepia coloured ink; the plates have been clean wiped, and the highlights contrast brilliantly with the etched and aquatint design.⁶³ While the identity of the printer is unknown, he may have left behind some of his DNA in the form of a hair that is stuck to the printing ink in the NGV impression of Origen de los arpones ó banderillas (Origin of the harpoons or banderillas). (See fig. 43).

The first edition of Desastres de la Guerra were ‘rag-wiped’ and printed with considerable tone. This method of printing, followed in most of the later editions, was thought to have been adopted partly to satisfy mid-nineteenth century taste for richly toned impressions, but probably also to bring out the maximum intensity of every detail engraved on the plates, even at the sacrifice of brilliance and contrast. Interestingly, where the working proofs exist for Los Desperates many of them are so cleanly wiped, that some of the more delicate or detailed passages almost fail to print.