"Disasters of War" is a commentary on the brutality and senselessness of war. Begun during the Napoleonic invasion and occupation of Spain (1808-1814), and published posthumously in 1863, this series of prints raises the visual horrors of war to a new level. Goya's imagery is visually more modern than the earlier depictions of violence found in the prints of Dutch and French artists. Here graphic scenes of torture, rape, mutilation, and execution confront the viewer with the physicality and psychology of human suffering. Goya is perhaps the first Western artist to capture the terrorism of war in the modern age.
Details
- Artist Name: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828)
- Title: Desastres de la Guerra
- Date: c. 1810-15
- Medium: Etching, burnished aquatint, lavis, drypoint, and burin on laid paper
- Edition: working proof
- Dimensions: plate: 7 x 8 5/8 in. (17.8 x 21.9 cm); sheet: 8 3/4 x 12 1/4 in. (22.2 x 31.1 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1977.18.1.01-82.G
Object Information
Pedro Gil Babot, by descent, to;
Pedro Gil Moreno de Mora, probably by descent, to his son;
José Pedro Gil Moreno de Mora, by 1935.
Tomás Harris;
[P. & D. Colnaghi, London, sold 4 August 1977, to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
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