Title page of first edition, published as “Los Proverbios”

In 1864, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid published the first edition of 18 aquatint etchings by Goya as Los Proverbios in an edition of 300 copies. By 1937, nine editions had been published. Neither the title nor the order of the prints within the series stem from Goya himself. Disparates (Follies, Absurdities) – the title now most widely used – derives from Goya’s own annotations on many of the trial proofs. Prints pulled from four further plates (nos. 19–22) that belong to the Los Proverbios/Disparates series were published in 1877 in the French periodical L’Art. (TD 2024, translation Büro LS Anderson, Berlin)