Rise and Fall
by GOYA Y LUCIENTES, Francisco de, Etching and aquatint, 210 x 150 mm
This is Plate 56 from the series Los Caprichos.
The grandly dressed person raised aloft by a satyr in this plate is surely Godoy. Elevated over the globe by a symbol of lust, his phallic sword dangles at his side; two falling figures indicate that such successes are transitory and always come at the expense of others.