Plate 69 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'Nothing. The event will tell' (Nada. Ello dirá)

Original title: Plate 69 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'Nothing. The event will tell' (Nada. Ello dirá)

Artist: Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
Date: 1814–15 (published 1863)
Medium: Etching, burnished aquatint, lavis, drypoint, burin
Dimensions: Plate: 6 in. × 7 13/16 in. (15.3 × 19.9 cm) Sheet: 9 15/16 × 13 9/16 in. (25.2 × 34.5 cm)
Credit line: Purchase, Jacob H. Schiff Bequest, 1922

kurzbeschreibung

Francisco de Goya made this print as the 69th plate of his graphic series 'The Disasters of War' (Los Desastres de la Guerra) in 1814–15, though the series was not published until 1863. The work combines etching with aquatint, lavis, drypoint, and burin. It depicts a group of desperate people in a dark setting.

Description

In a murky, chaotic scene, several people crowd together. A man lies stretched out on the ground, clutching a sheet of paper, while other figures stand or crouch around him. Despair and shock mark their faces, creating a charged atmosphere. The layout feels deliberately unbalanced, emphasizing the unrest; to the side in the shadows, more people can be made out, their postures revealing similar distress. Weak light from the upper left casts the bodies into shadow and heightens the drama.

Context

Between 1810 and 1820, the series emerged as a response to the Napoleonic occupation of Spain and the ensuing civil war. The etchings were only published in 1863, 35 years after Goya's death, by the Royal Academy of San Fernando. The 69th plate bears the inscription 'Nada. Ello dirá' and belongs to the third section of the series, which deals with the aftermath of war. Goya was already deaf by that time and had increasingly distanced himself from court art.

Impact

The muted tones and sparse light evoke a depressing, hopeless mood. The irregular arrangement and expressive faces unleash an immediate emotional force that draws the viewer into the desperation of the event.

Technique

For this print, Goya used a combination of etching, aquatint, lavis, drypoint, and burin. Aquatint creates soft, graduated tonal areas, while drypoint and burin provide precise lines and details. Lavis gives the whole a painterly quality that contributes to the dark underlying mood.

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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)