The Academy of Fine Arts restores Goya’s plates, pinnacle of universal engraving

It is one of the pinnacles of universal engraving and one of the treasures of National Chalcography, at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts. Among its collections are 228 copper plates used by Goya to engrave, on the one hand, his four famous series of prints: the ‘Caprichos’ (80), the ‘Disasters of War’ (82), the ‘Tauromaquia’ ( 33) and the ‘Disparates’ (18 of the 22 conserved), including first editions of all of them. Eleven were engraved on both sides: seven of the ‘Tauromaquia’ and two plates with landscapes were fragmented into two halves each to engrave the numbers 13, 14, 15 and 30 of the ‘Disasters of War’ on the backs. In addition, among those 228 plates there are 13 matrices that correspond to his first graphic series, the etchings of paintings by Velázquez, and two more loose ones: ‘El agarrotado’ and ‘San Francisco de Paula’. The 15 were acquired between 1790-92 for 6,000 reales. Electrolytic coatings Above, Laura Alba, from the Prado’s Technical Documentation Office, identifies the coatings on Goya’s plates. On these lines, from left to right, Alba analyzing the results on the computer, and one of the 13 matrices that Coalcografía Nacional stores of the etchings of paintings by Velázquez, Goya’s first graphic series Photos: Ignacio Gil The institution stopped stamping the Goya prints in 1983. There are only a few prints left for sale. The plates, on which Goya worked directly, were deteriorating and were rescued as works of art. «In them is the gesture and the calligraphy of Goya, since he was the engraver; it is his crucial work and his most intimate. Engraving was what made Goya universal”, comments Juan Bordes, academic delegate of National Chalcography, in the Goya Cabinet, next to an 18th century press. Some plates are on display there, along with facsimiles of the engravings. It opened its doors at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1990, designed by the architects Federico Correa and Alfonso Milá. Before the restoration After the restoration On the left, the steel plate, with the traces of its deterioration after traveling to an exhibition in Lille, from ‘This is worse’, etching number 37 of Goya’s ‘Disasters of War’ . On the right, Goya’s copper matrix after removing the steel Photos: Academy of Fine Arts / Ignacio Gil In the ten years that Bordes has been in charge of Calcografía Nacional, he has seen how the matrixes of the ‘Bobalicón’, the etching number 4 of the ‘Disparates’, and of Goya’s self-portrait, cover of the ‘Caprichos’. To them was added the loan to a museum in Lille (France) of another of the plates: the one corresponding to the famous etching ‘This is worse’, etching number 37 of the ‘Disasters of War’. He traveled, with all the guarantees, in a climabox (airtight microclimatic showcase to protect works of art from adverse environmental conditions). The insurance value of a Goya iron is around one million euros. Before the restoration After the restoration On the left, the steel plate of ‘Bobalicón’, etching number 4 of Goya’s ‘Disparates’, where deterioration is evident in some areas. On the right, the copper plate after its restoration Photos: Academy of Fine Arts / Ignacio Gil In December 2021, two weeks before the exhibition closed, the Academy was informed that the matrix had begun to deteriorate: a kind of small crater. When he arrived in Madrid, the damage was already much greater, “as if he had suffered an explosion.” Various hypotheses were considered: a humidity problem, a bacterium… «It was urgent to find a solution; It was not an aesthetic problem, but rather the conservation of a national treasure”, warns Juan Bordes. Years ago there was an attempt to reverse the protective bath of steel, nickel and chrome plating that was given to these copper plates at the end of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, in order to harden and reinforce the plates to continue increasing the spins. But those electroplatings were hurting the dies. No reliable techniques were known, so it was put on hold. Until they found out that the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica in Rome was working with the plates of Piranesi, another of the great engravers of History, along with Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya and Picasso. Removal of the steel Above, the conservator and restorer of the Academy of Fine Arts Silvia Viana, removing the steel from a Goya plate. Above these lines, from left to right, Viana working with number 5 of the ‘Disparates’ (‘Flying Nonsense’), and some of the artist’s matrices in the National Chalcography stamping workshop, ready to be studied and restored Photos : Ignacio Gil The restorer Lucia Ghedin had achieved extraordinary results with the Piranesi dies, removing the steel ones, which were causing problems. She was invited to come to the Academy last May to share the technique used and apply it to Goya’s plates. The ‘Bobalicón’ and ‘Esto es peor’ already wear their original color and their condition has stabilized. Financing for the project had to be sought: Bancaja is responsible for part of the budget, which exceeds 100,000 euros. One year of performance is covered. It is the star plan of the Academy of Fine Arts, which inaugurated its new Goya rooms in May. Next Thursday the online cataloging of the graphic work of the artist will be presented in National Chalcography. ABC witnesses the restoration process of these jewels in the stamping workshop. It was decided to start with the ‘Caprichos’ and the ‘Disparates’. The matrices wait patiently for their turn to pass through the expert hands of Laura Alba, from the Prado Museum’s Technical Documentation and Laboratory Cabinet. “The first thing is to characterize the coatings that the plates have: to know if they are steel, chrome or nickel-plated, which give that metallic, silvery appearance to the copper matrices”, explains Laura Alba. At the moment, she is only going to work with steel, since the proper procedures for removing nickel and chrome are not yet known. «The oxidation index of steel and copper are very different, which enhances the corrosion of the original copper» Laura Alba Technical Documentation Office and Laboratorio del Prado «In order to make reprints, a coating used to be applied to the original copper , which can be of different alloys. According to documentation of the time, it is assumed that most of them are steel. A few years ago we studied five of these plates at the Prado. Among them, the ‘Bobalicón’. It had many losses from the steel, exposing the original copper. The oxidation index of steel and copper are very different, which causes a galvanic cell effect that enhances the corrosion of the original copper. In some cases the damage is irreversible », explains Laura Alba. She is working with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry equipment, owned by El Prado, which allows recording the chemical elements of the analyzed area. Spectra with various peaks are taken, which are then studied on a computer. The number 2 of the ‘Caprichos’ was nickel-plated and, therefore, will not be intervened for the moment. In the ‘Bobalicón’, apart from the original copper and iron from the coating steel, other minority elements were identified: silver, bismuth and arsenic. There are plates of similar dimensions that weigh more than others. Perhaps they have a double coating. On the reverse, traces of the different ways of holding the plates to give them electrolytic baths can still be seen: a tin tab or large suction cups. The latter is the case of the self-portrait on the cover of ‘Caprichos’. Juan Bordes, in the Goya Cabinet of National Chalcography Ignacio Gil A París, with a check of 600,000 euros In 2011, the Academy of Fine Arts was about to acquire the four remaining plates of the ‘Disparates’, thus completing the four great Goya print series. Juan Bordes, still hurt, sadly remembers what happened. Goya’s son had sold them to a French dealer. After the owner’s death, his heirs put them up for sale. They offered them first to the National Library of Paris (they were not interested) and then to the Prado, who understood that the person who should buy them was National Calcography. Bordes contacted the Paul Prouté gallery in Paris, an intermediary for the owners. After accepting the purchase, he backed down, skipping the agreed agreement: the Louvre decided to buy them. Juan Bordes went into a rage. He was planted in Paris with a check worth 600,000 euros. It didn’t help. Goya achieved extraordinary mastery in engraving techniques: etching, aquatint, burnished gouache, drypoint, burin, chisel… He used several of them on each plate, managing to give great dramatic power and expressiveness. The most delicate ones wore out very quickly and can only be appreciated in the first editions. Preparatory drawings of many of his prints are preserved, especially in the Prado. “Metals are very affected by environmental humidity, it corrodes them” Silvia Viana Conservator and restorer of the Academy of Fine Arts Silvia Viana, conservator and restorer of the Academy of Fine Arts, is removing the steel from number 5 of the ‘Nonsense’, titled ‘Flying nonsense’. Before doing so, she explains, it has been necessary to clean the remains of ink and fatty substances that may have crystallized on the plate. Afterwards, it is immersed in a solution (EDTA, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid). She helps to dissolve the components of the steel, which mask Goya’s work on the plate. It is much thicker than the varnish of a painting. Viana carefully applies the brush to the matrix, which gradually recovers its original color. The process started the day before. She works herself in five-hour phases, she’s not ready yet. The dissolved steel gives a greenish color. Suddenly, some fingerprints appear on the iron. We fantasize that they could be by Goya himself. Impossible to know. Once all the steel has been removed, the next phase is to protect the copper surface, leaving the plate stabilized. «Metals are greatly affected by environmental humidity, it corrodes them. To do this, we use very stable synthetic resins (Paraloid, ethyl methacrylate),” says Viana. MORE INFORMATION news Yes Fernando Zóbel, the painter who deconstructed ancient art in pure abstraction news Yes Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, the magician of Venice news Yes A ‘Pieta’ by Goya, painted in his youth, up for auction in Madrid Two of the series they were printed after Goya’s death in 1828: the ‘Disasters of War’, in 1863, and the ‘Disparates’, in 1864. The 98 plates were acquired in 1862 by the Academy of Fine Arts for 28,000 reales. Two ‘Disasters’ were missing, which were donated in 1870 by Paul Lefort. Goya printed the first edition of ‘Caprichos’ in 1799. They were on sale for only thirteen days. In 1803, in exchange for a pension for his son Javier, the artist gave the King the 80 plates, along with 240 prints from the series. They were ceded to Calcography. In 1816 Goya shot an edition of ‘Tauromaquia’. In 1920 the 33 plates were bought by the Círculo de Bellas Artes for 17,000 pesetas. Deposited in the Civil War at the Academy, it bought them in 1979. The prints and drawings are the works in which one can best unravel his thoughts. We end this journey into the prodigious mind of the engraver Goya.