Los Chinchillas (The Chinchillas), plate 50 from the first edition of Los Caprichos (Madrid, 1799)

Two figures wear heraldic tunics that mark them as members of the aristocracy, an identification supported by Goya’s caption, which is the name of a noble family in a satirical play. The men’s eyes are closed, and padlocks cover their ears. Their mouths, in contrast, are wide open as they wait to be spoon-fed by a donkey-eared figure wearing a blindfold.

Contemporary commentators interpreted this print as a critique of the idle nobility, as well as a more general commentary on the importance of sight and hearing for human understanding. Observation and experience are inaccessible to these two figures; instead of using their eyes and ears, they passively accept ideas given to them by an embodiment of blind ignorance. This is further emphasized by their restrictive garments, as well as by the rosary beads clutched by the figure on the left.