Si quebro el cantaro (Yes He Broke the Pot)

Si quebro el cantaro (Yes He Broke the Pot) by Francisco Goya is a significant Spanish print created in 1799. This work exemplifies the artist’s mastery of intaglio techniques, skillfully utilizing etching, aquatint, and drypoint on laid paper. Dating from the crucial 1776 to 1800 period, this piece is a cornerstone of European graphic arts, blending sharp social critique with innovative technical methods that allowed for rich, tonal drama.

This specific image functions as Plate 25 from Goya’s seminal series, Los Caprichos, a groundbreaking collection of eighty prints published in Madrid that same year. Goya employed the complex, dark tonal qualities achieved through aquatint to create high-contrast shadows, emphasizing the moral and social corruption he observed in late 18th-century Spanish society. Although the title translates literally, the piece, like the other works in the series, carries deeper symbolic weight, addressing themes of consequence, folly, or broken innocence within the broader series narrative.

The strategic addition of drypoint adds rich, velvety burr to certain lines, enhancing the emotional intensity typical of Goya’s powerful satirical style. When viewed alongside its companion plates, Si quebro el cantaro stands as a potent example of how the artist used prints to challenge and document the hypocrisy of established norms. This impression is held within the collection of the National Gallery of Art, providing historians and the public access to major Spanish works from the era. As this influential historical artwork is considered public domain, high-quality reference reproductions allow for the continued study of Goya’s revolutionary approach to the medium.