Plate 67 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'This is not less so' (Esta no lo es menos)
Original title: Plate 67 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'This is not less so' (Esta no lo es menos)
kurzbeschreibung
Plate 67 from Goya's series The Disasters of War shows a group of men carrying a wounded or dying soldier on a stretcher. The etching with aquatint was made in 1814–15 but not published until 1863. The subject is one of the plates that deal with the aftermath of the Spanish War of Independence.
Description
In the foreground, several men bear a soldier lying on a stretcher; some of them lean on sticks or crutches. Further back, someone holds up a banner that appears to show a religious scene. The setting is an interior, defined by a door and a wall frame. The layout is clear, and the figures are rendered with realism and rich detail. Light falls evenly, without stark contrasts of light and shadow.
Context
Goya created the series The Disasters of War between 1810 and 1820 as a response to the horrors of the Spanish War of Independence (1808–1814) and the restoration that followed. Plate 67 belongs to the so-called caprichos enfáticos, made after the war, which highlight the suffering of the civilian population and the senselessness of violence. The series remained unpublished during Goya's lifetime; the first edition was issued in 1863 by the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid. Goya worked on the plates while in retreat at his house, La Quinta del Sordo, and also drew on his own experiences from the war years.
Impact
A somber mood sets in, intensified by the frail bearers and the motionless body of the wounded man. The calm, almost documentary layout emphasizes the hopelessness of the situation, without pathetic gestures. The viewer is confronted with the immediate consequences of war, which here appear not heroic but ordinary and sobering.
Technique
The plate was made using a combination of drypoint, aquatint, burin, and burnisher, with aquatint providing tonal gradations. The plate measures 17.2 × 22 cm, and the sheet format is 25.2 × 34.3 cm. The technique allows fine drawn details in the figures and an even surface effect in the background.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)