Francisco de Goya’s Los Caprichos (1799), a series of eighty etchings and aquatints, are widely known as satiric criticisms of human ignorance and folly. The artist is democratic in his critical assessment of society and its customs, from the superstitious beliefs of the lower classes to the genealogical obsession of aristocrats. Although the series includes themes particular to Spain at the turn of the century, Goya often veils these fixed references with ambiguous meanings, settings, and figures. Thus, many of the critiques expressed pictorially by Goya have application for locations and times outside of late-eighteenth-century Spain, giving the series a greater universal appeal. Moreover, the artist does not include any conciliatory finale, nor does he offer any behavioral alternatives. Recent scholarship has focused on all aspects of this series, from Jesusa Vega’s essays on the technical analysis of Goya’s graphic works to John Ciofalo’s reading in The Self-Portraits of Francisco de Goya (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000) of the central figure in plate 43 (The Dream/Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters) as a quixotic self-portrait of the artist. Other studies, such as the exhibition “Ydioma universal”: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional, curated by Juliet Wilson-Bareau and Elena Santiago, highlight the important...