- Cronología
- Ca. 1810 - 1812
- Dimensiones
- 161 x 239 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Aguafuerte, punta seca y buril
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Undisputed work
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 13 Dec 2010 / 02 Jun 2023
- Inventario
- 225
Goya (lower left-hand corner), 15 (lower left-hand corner of the plate).
See Sad presentiments of what must come to pass.
The first artist's proof shows that Goya used drypoint for the figures in the background, the woman and child in the foreground, and the hat and hand of the figure to the left of these. The overbitten etched areas in the figure of the man on the far left of the print have been reinforced with burin.
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 is a surviving preparatory drawing for this print which is housed in the Prado Museum.
A group of people is depicted fleeing in panic in broad daylight over a waste ground on the outskirts of the city or town visible on top of some hills in the background. The print shows an assortment of different figures, both common people and religious men, some of whom have had time to gather up some of their belongings. On the left-hand side of the print we can see a priest wearing a saturno hat who is clutching a bag as he flees with an expression of terror on his face. Next to this figure is another man who points behind him, possibly because he has seen a situation that requires help. The plea seems to fall on deaf ears as the priest grips the man by the arm, forcing him to continue on his way. In the centre of the foreground Goya depicts a woman taking the arm of a child who looks back and seems to resist leaving his home. The female figure carries a smaller child in her other arm. In the background is a group of people fleeing the scene, some on horseback.
This image may in fact capture a relatively common practice in times of war: that of abandoning towns in order to avoid the raids of French troops. Thus, the enemy could take the supplies they needed from the abandoned towns without inflicting harm on the inhabitants.
This print can be linked to the preceding works in the series - no. 41, They escape through the flames (Escapan entre las llamas); no. 42, Everything is topsy-turvy (Todo va revuelto); and no. 43, This too (Tambien esto) - which all deal with people fleeing a place for various reasons. Goya presents the viewer with a group of images that display a certain consistency of theme, making it possible to identify a distinct set of works within the first part of this print series specifically dedicated to the theme of war.
Thus, it is also possible to establish a second link - albeit for different reasons - between this print and the following, no. 45, And this too (Y esto tambien). It is exclusively in the case of these two prints that Goya emphasises he was a witness to the events taking place. The artist's need to emphasise his presence at these two events leads the viewer to the conclusion that he was, perhaps, not a witness to the other images depicted in the series.
La plancha se conserva en la Calcografía Nacional (cat. 295).
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Goya and his timesThe Royal Academy of ArtsLondon1963cat. 66cat. 246
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De grafiek van GoyaRijksmuseum RijksprentenkabinetAmsterdam1970from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971cat. 80
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Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)Hamburger KunsthalleHamburg1980cat. 89
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Francisco de GoyaMuseo d'Arte ModernaLugano1996exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.p. 161, cat. 44
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Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996Galerie KornfeldBern1996from November 21st 1996 to January 1997cat. 128
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Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalBiblioteca NacionalMadrid1996from September 19th to December 15th 1996cat. 209
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Goya's RealismStatens Museum for KunstCopenhagen2000from February 11th to May 7th 2000cat. 43
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Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerraSan Donato Milanese2000Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzottacat. 124
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Goya. Opera graficaPinacoteca del Castello di San GiorgioLegnano2006exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007p. 73
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Goya et la modernitéPinacothèque de ParisParís2013from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014cat. 83
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Goya: Order and disorderMuseum of Fine ArtsBoston2014cat. 192
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Agen2019cat. 59
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2022
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Goya, grabadorMadridBlass S.A.1918cat. 146
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Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.OxfordBruno Cassirer1964cat. 164
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970cat. 1064
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Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalMadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional1996cat. 252
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ParísPinacoteca de París2013p. 141
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Goya: Order & DisorderBostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications2014p. 288
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Goya. In the Norton Simon MuseumPasadenaNorton Simon Museum2016pp. 114-151
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AgenSnoeck2019p. 159
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Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz2022p. 67