There Is No One to Help Them (No hay quien los socorra)
Original title: Plate 60 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'There is no one to help them' (No hay quien los socorra)
kurzbeschreibung
Plate 60 from Francisco de Goya's etching series 'The Disasters of War', created in 1811–12 and published in 1863. The etching with aquatint and burin shows a group of people in a gloomy setting: several figures lie motionless on the ground, while a lone man looks upward with a desperate gaze.
Description
Several motionless bodies lie in the foreground, some stretched out in hopeless postures. A standing man in dark clothing, his gaze directed upward, makes a gesture of horror or despair. Dark, cloud-covered areas fill the background and deepen the somber mood. Gray tones dominate the color palette; the layout is clearly asymmetrical, with the standing man as the focal point and the fallen figures lining the ground. At the bottom edge is the inscription 'No hay quien los socorra'.
Context
Between 1810 and 1820, Goya created 'Los Desastres de la Guerra' as a response to the atrocities of the Spanish War of Independence (1808–1814) and the subsequent restoration. The plates were not published until 1863, after the artist's death, by the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. Plate 60 belongs to the group that focuses on civilian victims, hunger, and violence.
Impact
An oppressive, almost hopeless atmosphere emanates from the etching, reinforced by the dark gray values and the helpless body postures. The man looking upward gives the plate an emotional force that immediately grips the viewer and makes the powerlessness of the victims palpable.
Technique
The plate was executed as an etching with burnished aquatint, burin, and burnisher; this produces fine lines and rich shading. The interplay of these techniques allows a precise rendering of light and shadow, which contributes to the somber effect.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)