Plate 48 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): Cruel tale of woe! (Cruel Lástima!)
Original title: Plate 48 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): Cruel tale of woe! (Cruel Lástima!)
kurzbeschreibung
Unlike many other plates in the 'Disasters of War', this one does not foreground pure violence but a gesture of mourning: a kneeling man holds a small flower over a dead body. Francisco de Goya made the etching in 1811–12 as part of the series, which was only published posthumously in 1863. The execution combines etching, burnished lavis, burin, and burnisher. Surrounded by further corpses in a gloomy landscape, the scene reads as a quiet comment on war.
Description
In the foreground, a man kneels over an outstretched corpse, his right hand clasping a small flower. More motionless bodies can be made out behind him. Dark greys dominate the image, the light is subdued and focuses on the central figure. The realistic style, with dramatic chiaroscuro, heightens the oppressive mood.
Context
Goya responded with this series, created between 1810 and 1820, to the Napoleonic Wars in Spain and the subsequent Restoration. During his lifetime the plates remained unpublished; only in 1863 did the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando print them. The etchings record wartime atrocities, famines, and social ills, and are considered a key work in the history of war depiction.
Impact
The contrast between the delicate flower and raw violence gives the plate a haunting emotional force. The dark area and the quiet grief of the kneeling figure create a deep melancholy and prompt reflection on the senselessness of war.
Technique
The plate was made as an etching with burnished lavis, burin, and burnisher on a copper plate. Lavis allows fine tonal gradations, while the burin sets precise lines. It was printed on laid paper; the plate measures 15.3 × 20.5 cm, the sheet 25.1 × 34.6 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)