They Don't Fall Off Their Donkey (They Don't Admit Their Error), ("No caen de su burro") 1807 - 1845

Editor: Today we’re looking at Leonardo Alenza’s etching from the early 19th century, "They Don't Fall Off Their Donkey (They Don't Admit Their Error)." The figures are so bizarre! What do you make of their animalistic features? Curator: Alenza certainly uses those features to communicate a powerful message. The donkey, in this case, acts as a powerful symbol, loaded with historical precedent. Traditionally, the donkey is a symbol of stubbornness and ignorance, yes? So who is riding whom? Editor: I see what you mean! So the riders, caricatures of authority, are clinging to their positions. But what about the way they look, almost like animals? Curator: Think about bestiaries, the medieval books where animals represented human vices and virtues. Alenza cleverly taps into this tradition, assigning specific animal traits to highlight certain undesirable human characteristics. The pig, the monkey... what do these imply to you? What do those faces evoke? Editor: Vanity? Perhaps a lack of reason? It feels like a really pointed commentary. It is almost timeless because people are still doing the same. Curator: Exactly. The phrase itself, “They don't fall off their donkey,” suggests an unwillingness to change, even when proven wrong. Alenza offers not just a visual representation, but also an invocation of a familiar cultural script, a cautionary tale, which in effect makes us question: what don't we want to fall from? Editor: It’s amazing how much can be packed into a single image! I hadn't considered all those symbolic layers. I will consider animals differently. Curator: Precisely. Visual symbols contain a wealth of cultural memory. Today we saw one example of how we interpret this cultural memory.