by Mike Booth, Part II of III

"Tristes presentimientos," created 1810-1815, published 1863, 178x220 mm.

Military Grandeur: The Disasters of War
Goya experienced firsthand in Madrid and Zaragoza the horror of Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion and occupation of his country. The truth is that Napoleon's installation of his brother-in-law as José I, head of the Spanish state, elicited a mixed reception in Spain. On the one hand he brought with him some of the attributes of French culture; on the other he represented military rule and the hated usurper. Although Goya continued to function as court artist under the French regime, it was after the downfall of José I that he produced his most memorable work, such as the paintings, The Charge of the Mamalukes and The Moncloa Firing Squad and especially the series of 82 etchings called The Disasters of War.

Goya began to work on the series in 1810, with Madrid and much of the rest of the country in tatters. Such was the shortage even of etching materials that he was obliged to work on used plates and with inferior varnishes and resins. Even so, he produced some of history's most memorable etched images and one of its most eloquent denunciations of war.

"Con razón o sin ella," same techniques, 150x209 mm.

Five Year's Work; Unpublished
The artist took five years to complete the 82 plates which make up the series. His political acumen was such that his criticism was not limited to a generic denunciation of war, nor even to the French invaders, but also extended, in the last etchings of the series, to the excesses of the newly-installed and politically abusive regime of Fernando VII.

Perhaps it was for this reason that the artist, recalling his earlier brush with the Inquisition, did not edit The Disasters of War in his lifetime. When Goya went into exile in Bordeaux in 1824, the plates of the series remained in Madrid in the house of his son, Javier, and did not surface again until they were purchased by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1856, 28 years after the death of the maestro.

"Ni por esas," same techniques as above, 162x213 mm.

A Flawed First Edition
Surprisingly enough, the plates were quite extensively retouched for the first edition, something that we look upon today as anathema. Framing lines were completed around the images, scratches were burnished out and some areas of aquatint, drypoint and direct acid bite were even added. Nor was the printing technique one that Goya himself would have approved, rather the soft characterless light inking characteristic of the time. This fact becomes evident when one compares the prints of the first edition with the artist's proofs, which are preserved in the Calcografía Nacional in Madrid.

A total of seven editions were pulled of The Disasters of War, the last one exquisitely done in 1937, under the auspices of the Republican Government in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. In a macabre coincidence it was the same year that the Heinkel bombers of the German Condor Legion took the noble military art one step further by bombing civilians in the Basque town of Guernica.

Curiously, only 80 of the 82 plates were included in the early editions of The Disasters. The two missing plates did not surface till 1870 when they were acquired by the Royal Academy of San Fernando. Even so, these two plates were not edited till 1957. A third lost plate, entitled, "Infame provecho" exists only in a preliminary sketch and an artist's proof, property today of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

"Para eso habeis nacido," same techniques as above, 163x237 mm.

A Four-Part Series
The Disasters of War series is traditionally divided into four parts: one introductory print, forty six portraying the horrors of war, seventeen with scenes of hunger in Madrid (though the city is not clearly alluded to in the images), and sixteen prints at the end of the series called "Los caprichos enfáticos," "Emphatic Follies."

Goya's introductory print to this series succinctly sums up what is to follow, both in his series of etchings and in world history. It depicts an imploring kneeling figure of a defenseless man who finds himself caught in the crossroads of the paths of glory trampled by psychotic politicians, generals and businessmen.

The fact that Goya's images for The Disasters of War series depict both victims and perpetrators not so much as men, rather as mankind, lends an eerie universality to the work. Goya's close-up literal treatment of the horrific themes of war obviates all hints of glamor, nobility or heroism. He returned war to its proper sphere, that of murder, rape, pillage and injustice. Sadly, nothing has changed in the intervening almost three centuries, nor does the future bode anything different. The appalling scenes of hunger in Madrid are equally universal and include suggestive images reflecting the indifference of the rich and powerful, who seem to inhabit another, more profitable world.

"Qué valor," acid etching, direct acid, drypoint, burin and burnisher, 158x209 mm.

Goya's Anticlericalism
The last sixteen prints, the "caprichos enfáticos," are symbolic and quite open to interpretations. The first three of them (plates 66, 67 and 68) reflect the anticlerical vein which has been a constant in Spanish critical thought over the centuries. Print number 69 entitled, "Nada. Ella dirá," is an image of a skeleton emerging from a tomb. He bears a message in his hand: "Nada..." ("Nothing...") Is Goya saying that all the destruction, suffering and humiliation have been for nothing? It seems so.

Parodies of Fernando VII and his coterie are the themes of plates 70-79, where Goya portrays them alternately as vampires, cats, asses and ghouls.The last two plates, 79 and 80, form a diptych and are what the Spanish would call "Una de cal y otra de arena," the first one. "La verdad ha muerto," deadly pessimistic and the last conveying a note of optimism.

Go to Part III/III