Don Friolera, Pachequín, and Doña Loreto

Latex with acrylic on acetate, 40x28

Series: Of Love and Death (Valle-Inclán's work)

The Horns of Don Friolera, II and IV. Don Friolera, Pacheguín, and Doña Loreto.

The action represented Conde Corbal corresponds to scene number four and speciafically to three quotations describing the debate between Don Friolera and Doña Loreta, his “unfaithful” wife. When Don Friolera brandishes a big pistol, Pacheguín, the lame barber who lives on the other side of the street, goes to the “house of the tragedy” to help his lover. This is the central scene of the grotesque, and by choosing it Conde Corbal shows his perception as a reader which confirms the completion of the engraving because when we take a look we recognize not only the fourth scene, but also the entire work. Especially evocative is the figure of Don Friolera, who contains the full development of his pathetic attempts to “clean” his honor. The man is having a rough time and he is completely mad while he jumps and screams next to the couple who are embracing each other. The pistol is not aiming Loreta, but the air, reminding us that when he shoots he will not kill his wife, but his daughter. In this figure Conde Corbal gives espression to what Valle-Inclán called “the unique gesture” of Don Friolera. He sets [either in words or lines] the most represtative expression [and unspeakable] of a person, experience or emotion. We see Don Friolera in this scene, at that moment, but at the same time we see all other aspects of him [all kinds of Don Friolera], since the line was altered, changed in such a way that it expresses or evokes much it could be represented.

Carol Maier

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