Francisco de Goya

I saw it (Yo lo vi)

Clasificación
I saw it (Yo lo vi)
Datos Generales
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
Inscripciones

Goya (lower left-hand corner), 15 (lower left-hand corner of the plate).

Historia

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.

Análisis artístico

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.

Conservación

La plancha se conserva en la Calcografía Nacional (cat. 295).

Exposiciones
  • Goya and his times
    The Royal Academy of Arts
    London
    1963
    cat. 66
  • De grafiek van Goya
    Rijksmuseum Rijksprentenkabinet
    Amsterdam
    1970
    from November 13th 1970 to January 17th 1971
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • 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
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • Goya's Realism
    Statens Museum for Kunst
    Copenhagen
    2000
    from February 11th to May 7th 2000
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • 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
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Agen
    2019
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • BERUETE Y MONET, Aureliano de
    Goya, grabador
    MadridBlass S.A.
    1918
    cat. 146
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    cat. 164
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    cat. 1064
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 252
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 141
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 288
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 114-151
  • MOTTIN, Bruno, EFEDAQUE, Adrien and WILSON-BAREU, Juliet
    AgenSnoeck
    2019
    p. 159
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 67
Enlaces externos
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