“Spain is no place for a woman, not at this time, not even Madrid.” (April 20, 1814)

So universal is their appeal that it is startling to remember that the etchings in Goya’s Desastres de la Guerra series actually relate to one particular war – the one we call the Peninsular War. In Spain, it is the War of Independence, and its effect on the country would be hard to exaggerate. For those of us who don’t read Spanish, the late Robert Hughes wrote a study of Goya’s art, life, and times that cannot be beat for knowledge, insight, eloquence, and humankindness. It’s highly accessible, too; in other words, unputdownable. (Robert Hughes, Goya, London 2003).

 I’ve put together a small selection from the Desastres on the website of the Museo del Prado, which holds many of the original prints. 

Detail from Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Ya no hay tiempo,
©Museo Nacional del Prado

Mind you, they’re not for the fainthearted. The accompanying text provides a warning: “No other artist has ever expressed the irrationality of violence and its terrible effects on Man as profoundly as Goya in his Desastres … Through these etchings, Goya censured the irrationality of war, the atrocities committed by both sides, and the suffering, pain, and death that followed.” (translated from J. M. Matilla, Estampas españolas de la Guerra de la Independencia: propaganda, conmemoración y testimonio, Cuadernos Dieciochistas 8, Salamanca 2007, pp. 260-265)

If you find Justin’s way with people as surprising as Claire does (Chapter 11, p. 132), think about what he’s been through. The War of Independence turned Goya into a fierce pacifist, although he was an observer rather than an active participant (Hughes, p. 272). “An ye had been where I hae been / ye wadnae be sae canty / An ye had seen what I hae seen / i’ the braes o’ Killiecrankie”: This Scottish folk song describes the impact of battle on a soldier. You remember my great-uncle Stephen, who was killed in the Second World War? His younger brother, who served as a signaller, emerged from the war with an intuitive kind of humanism that was felt rather than rational. By the time I got to know him better, his views were beginning to be more generally accepted, but when he was young, they must have been quite extraordinary.