Y son fieras (And they are savages)
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 1/8 × 8 1/4 in. (15.5 × 20.9 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/2 × 12 7/8 in. (24.2 × 32.7 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Adolph Weil Jr., Class of 1935
PR.991.50.1.5
Portfolio / Series Title
Number 5 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: Y son fieras; inscribed, in plate, upper left: 5; inscribed, in graphite, upper right: 5 Watermark: HGO/Palmette
Label
In the face of French brutality, the Spanish mounted their opposition. In these two prints, bodies of men and women clash in the center, bringing together civilians and soldiers in a physical struggle. In each, Spanish women take up arms, stabbing at French soldiers, who attempt to raise their own swords. Such acts of defiance were rarely recorded in the written record; yet these images memorialize the women’s bravery. Goya’s extensive use of aquatint, an artistic technique that creates tonal areas through application of powered resin to the printing plate, creates a dark background. The shadowy setting contrasts with the women’s white bodies, which draws attention to their resistance to the French men.
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
ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Joy Kenseth, Marlene Heck, Winter 2012
ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Joy Kenseth, Mary Coffey, Winter 2014
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.95, no. 106.
Hilliard T. Goldfarb and Reva Wolf, Fatal Consequences: Callot, Goya, and the Horrors of War, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1990, p. 55, ill. III.
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 124; Harris 125
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