Francisco de Goya

One can’t tell why (No se puede saber por qué)

Clasificación
One can’t tell why (No se puede saber por qué)
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1812 - 1815
Dimensiones
154 x 256 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching, burnished lavis, drypoint and burin
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
08 Dec 2010 / 24 May 2023
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

2 (on the lower left-hand corner)

Historia

See Sad presentiments of what must come to pass (Tristes presentimientos de lo que ha de acontecer).

The title was handwritten on the print by Goya in the first and only series that is known to have been printed at the time the works were created, which the artist gave to his friend Agustín Ceán Bermúdez. Therefore, the title was etched into the plate at a later date and left unchanged as of the first edition of the Disasters of War printed by the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid in 1863, after the printing of the series in the possession of Ceán Bermúdez.

There are no surviving preparatory drawings for this print.

Análisis artístico

Goya returns to the theme depicted in the previous print, no. 34, On account of a knife (Por una navaja), although in this case the scene shows a mass execution. The compositional space is occupied by a group of men executed by garrotte. All the men's hands are clasped around crucifixes and they wear hats bearing more crosses. Almost all of them have the weapon for which they have been convicted hanging around their necks, excepting the third and last men on the right. Goya wishes to draw the viewer's attention to this detail in the title of the print: we cannot know why these figures have been condemned to death. By this means the artist sows the seed of doubt regarding the arbitrary and unjust application of such a severe punishment.

The image is markedly darker than the previous print in the series, suggesting that this mass execution takes place at night. It might also suggest that the unjust way in which some of the convicted men were executed was by this means hidden from the public. Moreover, the fact that there are no spectators to the act depicted in this image, in contrast to the scene depicted in print no. 33, could signify that the execution takes place in an enclosed space or in a place that the public were prohibited from entering.

Conservación

The plate is stored in the National Chalcography (cat. 286).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Drawings, Etchings and Lithographs
    Goya. Drawings
    London
    1954
    from June 12th to July 25th 1954
  • Goya and the espirit of enlightment
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    New York
    1989
    scientific directors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Eleanor A. Sayre. From May 9th to July 16th 1989. Exhibited also in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, from January 18th to March 26th 1989
  • Francisco de Goya
    Museo d'Arte Moderna
    Lugano
    1996
    exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.
  • Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996
    Galerie Kornfeld
    Bern
    1996
    from November 21st 1996 to January 1997
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • Goya's Realism
    Statens Museum for Kunst
    Copenhagen
    2000
    from February 11th to May 7th 2000
  • Goya. Opera grafica
    Pinacoteca del Castello di San Giorgio
    Legnano
    2006
    exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
Bibliografía
  • BERUETE Y MONET, Aureliano de
    Goya, grabador
    MadridBlass S.A.
    1918
    cat. 137
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    cat. 155
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    cat. 1050
  • PÉREZ SÁNCHEZ, Alfonso E. y SAYRE, Eleanor A. (directores) and MENA, Manuela B. (comisaria)
    Goya y el espíritu de la Ilustración
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1988
    p. 300-302, cat. 87
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 240
  • TRAEGER, Jörg
    Goya. Die Kunst der Freiheit
    MunichVerlag C. H. Beck
    2000
    p. 149, fig. 54
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 137
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 114-151
Enlaces externos
Volver
Usamos cookies propias y de terceros para mejorar su navegación. Si continua navegando consideramos que acepta el uso de cookies.