The Disasters of War

by Franscisco Goya

Product Details:
Paperback: 97 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications (June 1, 1967)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0486218724
ISBN-13: 978-0486218724
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces

Reviews:

courtesy University of California Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive


"Fatal consequences of the bloody war in Spain with Bonaparte, and other emphatic caprices; invented, drawn, and engraved by the original painter, Don Francisco de Goya y Lucientes." That is how the Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746–1828) labeled the proofs of the landmark set of etchings on view in the Theater Gallery. The artist began work on the series in his early sixties. Thirty-five years after his death it was first published by Madrid’s Royal Academy of San Fernando, where it was aptly titled Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War).

We are fortunate to have this extraordinary visual record of the times as seen through the eyes of the artist. Printed from Goya’s original copper plates in 1937 (the final printing of this historic work), the edition in the BAM (Berkely Art Museum) collection is being shown in its entirety for the first time this fall. The images are not for the faint of heart. Gruesome and horrific, they attest boldly to the statement that war is hell.

Created between 1810 and 1820, the works fall into three categories: the violent drama of the war with the French; starvation and famine in Madrid; and allegorical scenes that refer to the period after the war when King Ferdinand VII was reinstated, along with the power of the Church, the Inquisition, and the judicial practice of torture.

[Editor's note: There are many excellent reviews on amazon.com for this book.]