Goya became deaf after a severe, undiagnosed illness in 1792 or 1793, and his work grew darker in the years that followed. Between 1797 and 1798 he made eighty aquatint etchings, published in 1799 as Los caprichos, which mock the superstition, ignorance and marital strife of Spanish society. Later, between 1815 and 1823, he produced a series of twenty-two prints called Los disparates, meaning The Follies. Published only in 1864, nearly thirty years after his death, under the title Proverbs, they are dreamlike images linked to political issues and Spanish sayings. Together the two series show Goya as a sharp social critic.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.