Por que? (Why?)
Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes, Spanish, 1746 - 1828
1810-1820
Etching, aquatint, lavis and scraping on paper
First edition, made prior to all corrections
Plate: 6 × 8 1/8 in. (15.3 × 20.6 cm)
Sheet: 9 9/16 × 12 3/4 in. (24.3 × 32.4 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Adolph Weil Jr., Class of 1935
PR.991.50.1.32
Portfolio / Series Title
Number 32 of 80 from Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War)
Publisher
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid, Spain
Geography
Place Made: Spain, Europe
Period
19th century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, in plate, lower center: Por que?; inscribed, in plate, upper left: 32; inscribed, in plate, lower left: 49; inscribed, in graphite, upper right: 32 Watermark: HGO/Palmette
Label
The explicit violence of Goya’s series of prints makes them both memorable and difficult to examine. The first half of the series chronicles the various tortures and punishments enacted on both sides of the conflict, as evidenced in the selection presented here. Bodies are disfigured, displayed, and dumped throughout the prints. In Plate 32, French soldiers tie a rope around a man’s neck, attaching him to a tree. They pull on his body as he cries out in extreme agony communicated by his open scream. Meanwhile, the soldiers remain expressionless at his plight. As in many of his works, Goya’s simple and sometimes sardonic captions suggest that such horror is beyond verbal expression. He asks only: Why?
From the 2023 exhibition Recording War: Images of Violence 1500 – 1900, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Associate Curator of Academic Programming
Course History
Anthropology 3.01, Introduction to Anthropology, Charis Ford Morrison Boke 1, Summer 2023
Studio Art 27.01/28.01/74.01, Printmaking I/II/III, Josh Dannin, Summer 2023
Facilitated Experience: Special Tour - From Goya to Photojournalism, Summer 2023
Exhibition History
Fatal Consequences: Callot, Goya, and the Horrors of War, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 8-December 9, 1990.
Recording War: Images of Violence, 1500-1900, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 20-August 20, 2023.
Publication History
Timothy Rub, Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, Kelly Pask, "A Gift to the College: The Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil Jr. Collection of Master Prints", Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1998, listed, p.98, no. 133.
Hilliard T. Goldfarb and Reva Wolf, Fatal Consequences: Callot, Goya, and the Horrors of War, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1990, p. 65, ill. XIII.
Provenance
Date unknown, in the collection of Felix Somary (1881-1956), Vienna and Zurich; sold Sotheby's, New York, May 3, 1978, lot 2; purchased by Adolph Weil, Jr., Montgomery, Alabama; 1991 given to Dartmouth College by Adolph Weil, Jr., Class of 1935.
Catalogue Raisonne
Delteil 151; Harris 152
This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.
We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu