He Can No Longer at the Age of Ninety-Eight

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Francisco de Goya)

about 1819–1823

Brush and India ink, Brush

J. Paul Getty Museum

An elderly person, bent over with age, uses two canes for support. The figure is rendered in loose brushstrokes with washes of ink. An extremely aged figure of a man hobbles along with two canes, overwhelmed by the weight of his own body. Drawn from life, the figure presents a universal image of old age, while the inscription flatly describes physical and mental frailty and hints at sexual impotence. Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes made the drawing at age sixty and had himself survived a serious illness; along with several other studies of old people, he included this drawing in his now-dispersed "Album D." For Goya, the paper played as strong a role as brush and india ink. He enhanced the old man's sense of isolation by placing him low on the page, allowing