Title page to "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra) and two pages of letterpress description of the series
Original title: Title page to "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra) and two pages of letterpress description of the series
kurzbeschreibung
The title page for Francisco Goya's print series Los Desastres de la Guerra, issued in 1863, survives here as an offset lithograph with letterpress text. The sheet sets out the series title in ornamental type, together with the artist's name and the publishing authority. This edition appeared decades after Goya's death and represents a late release of the cycle.
Description
Across the top of the sheet the words Los Desastres de la Guerra are set in large, ornamental letters. A smaller line beneath reads Colección de ochenta láminas inventadas y grabadas al agua fuerte, followed by the name Don Francisco Goya. The lower edge closes with the coat of arms of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and the date MADRID 1863. Printing stays monochrome throughout, in shades of grey, with no additional colours or highlights.
Context
Goya made the Los Desastres de la Guerra cycle between 1810 and 1820, during and after the Spanish War of Independence against Napoleon. In 82 etchings he recorded the atrocities of that conflict, yet the plates went unpublished in his lifetime. Only in 1863, 35 years after the artist's death, did the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando bring out the series for the first time, and this title page belonged to that publication.
Impact
The first impression is one of restraint: a stern, almost austere typography that steers the eye onward to the etchings that follow. Its muted greys create a sense of historical distance and reinforce the documentary claim of the series. Between this sober design and the drastic imagery of the plates, the contrast could hardly be wider.
Technique
Reproduction relied on offset lithography, an economical printing method of the period. The text and coat of arms were additionally printed in letterpress, so that pictorial and typographic elements are joined on one sheet. At roughly 25.2 × 34.3 cm, the page follows the folio format customary for print editions.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)