Etching printed in black on cream wove paper, 1778-80. 325x212 mm; 12 3/4x8 3/8 inches, full margins. Third edition (of 4), though with the vertical wiping scratches upper left and lower right that appear in the first and second editions and with the rework in the hair evident in the second and subsequent edition. A very good, dark and evenly-printed impression of this extremely scarce etching.
The third edition (after the plate was beveled) was printed in 1868 and advertised for sale by the Calcografia, Madrid, on the back cover of the 1868 edition of Los Caprichos. According to Harris, the third edition is very small.
Harris notes that, "This appears to be Goya's first distinctive composition in etching and is the earliest plate which really records his genius."
We have found fewer than 12 comparable impressions at auction in the past 25 years. Delteil 21; Harris 21.
