Plate 38 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de La Guerra): Barbarians! (Bárbaros!)
Original title: Plate 38 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de La Guerra): Barbarians! (Bárbaros!)
kurzbeschreibung
Plate 38 from Francisco Goya's Los Desastres de la Guerra, made in 1810 but not published until 1863, after the artist's death. This etching with aquatint presents a scene of wartime violence and menace.
Description
Two figures confront each other in the foreground: one brandishes a long, pointed object resembling a spear, while the other is bent to the ground, threatened. A third person in the background watches the encounter. The layout is asymmetrical, the mood sombre, dominated by grey tones and subdued light. The participants wear plain but precisely rendered clothing that suggests a military setting.
Context
Between 1810 and 1820 Goya produced the etchings of Los Desastres de la Guerra in response to the Napoleonic occupation of Spain and the ensuing atrocities of war. The series was only published in 1863, after the artist's death, by the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Plate 38, titled 'Bárbaros!', belongs to a group that condemns the violence of the French troops.
Impact
The gloomy atmosphere and asymmetrical arrangement create a haunting, disturbing effect. The threat in the foreground pulls the viewer directly into the action, exposing the cruelty of war without pathos.
Technique
Etching with burnished aquatint, burin, and burnisher on paper. Line etching and aquatint allow delicate transitions of light and shadow, from which the sombre atmosphere arises. The plate measures 15.3 × 20.8 cm, the sheet 25.2 × 34.3 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)