GOYA Y LUCIENTES, Francisco de
(b. 1746, Fuendetodos, d. 1828, Bordeaux)

As far back as his grandfather

1797-98
Aquatint, 215 x 150 mm
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Goya caricatures the pride of the hidalgos. Some 500.000 of Spain's population of around 10 million considered themselves to belong to this lesser branch of the nobility. Since work was beneath their station, most of them were impoverished, their only possessions being a long line of ancestors.