Esto es lo verdadero (This Is the Truth)

Goya combines several intaglio methods: the broad tonal washes of aquatint, the fine, velvety lines of dry‑point, and the crisp outlines achieved with a burin and burnisher. The use of umber ink on laid paper creates a muted palette, while the rough, textured strokes and stark chiaroscuro echo the artist’s late‑period graphic style.

Although the design dates to 1815, the proof was not printed until the late nineteenth century, likely by the French printer Lefort or by the Spanish Calcografía, the official printmaking workshop. This posthumous impression reflects the continued interest in Goya’s unpublished plates during the period of his growing reputation.

The image belongs to the final phase of Goya’s printmaking, a period marked by political unrest and social upheaval in Spain. His later works often merged Romantic expressiveness with biting commentary on contemporary events, using allegory and symbolic figures to critique the era’s contradictions.

Goya’s experimental layering of intaglio techniques in works like this influenced subsequent European artists who explored the expressive possibilities of print media. The print’s stark visual language and moral undertones anticipate later Symbolist and modernist approaches to graphic art.