War scene

See Women surprised by soldiers.

This drawing was included by Gassier and Wilson in the series of non-engraved preparatory drawings for the Disasters of War, despite the fact that it is executed in sepia wash, an unusual technique in the execution of these preparatory drawings, most of which are done in sanguine. The gouache has allowed Goya to establish a dense, dark nocturnal background, against which he has skilfully reserved the whites of the figures in the foreground, their light shirts and faces catching the light, which enters the scene from the left.

In the centre of the composition, a mob presided over by a prominent figure in a dazzling white shirt and armed with a knife attacks a figure lying on the ground, who raises his hands to defend himself from his assailants, whom he looks at with wild eyes. On the right, a rifle with bayonet penetrates the scene diagonally.