Contemptuous of the Insults

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Francisco de Goya)

about 1816–1820

Brush and india ink, Brush

J. Paul Getty Museum

A man in a dark coat and light pants gestures with his right hand towards two smaller figures, one crouching and the other standing behind. The man holds a hat in his left hand. The scene is rendered in shades of gray and black ink. An urbane Spaniard--probably a self-portrait of the artist--makes an obscene gesture at the Napoleon-like dwarfs threatening him with daggers. The title inscribed below the image, Despreciar los ynsultos (Despise the insults), seems to signify Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes's defiance toward the French military occupation of Spain. The difference of scale between the tall, patronizing Spaniard and his squat, gloomy oppressors reinforces the point. Often politically motivated, Goya's art presented private exploits and tragedies with both satire and an awareness of the human condition that made his observations timeless and univer