Fransico De Goya - Capricho 39

From Wikipedia: Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter andprintmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to theSpanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era. The subversive and imaginative element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet, Picasso and Francis Bacon.^[1]


On Caprichos: 
In 1799 Goya published a series of 80 prints titled Caprichos depicting what he described as "the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual".^[19]





This is Goya's Capricho 39


In this work, the author has used the black and white to vividly show where the light is falling on the figure (white, to light shades of grey) and where the light is blocked off (black areas).  The folding of the clothing on the figure's legs is emphasized using the white and grey showing clearly where the light falls. The book that is being read by the figure is also being emphasized by the lighter shade of color, the face of the figure is also in the light. It seems that in order to emphasize the light in the picture, Goya used the erasing technique to show where there is light and erasing it over the darker shade to show the contrast, thus emphasizing the light.


Consider an imagined figure that you "erase" and sketch out of the dark area
     use such techniques as crosshatching, erasing, and burnishing.Describe your process, and show how that has helped you deliver your statement.  


- Using cross hatching I would first start to darken the sheet creating a background. I would smudge and spread (using charcoal) until I was satisfied with the intensity of the darkness I created. Using an eraser, I would "cut out" a small figure indicating a person standing far away in the distance and as if the "cut out's" brightness caused a shadow on the darkness, I would make a reflection of the figure under it in a much bigger size laying under it and perspectively causing the shadow to spread as it approached the "front" of the page.