Menippus

Goya made these two etchings after Velázquez’s portrait pair reenvisioning the ancient writers Menippus (a satirical playwright) and Aesop (a storyteller). Both men were initially slaves, but became free men. They both appear in the paintings holding books or standing near piles of them, although none of their original writings have survived. Like the portraits of the court dwarves, Goya etched these thinkers on a smaller size sheet of paper than Velázquez’s portraits of contemporary nobles (and sold them at half the price).