Plate 64 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'Cartloads to the cemetery' (Carretadas al cementerio)
This is the last in a group of prints Goya devoted to Madrid’s 1811–12 famine—a result of failed crops, abandoned fields, and interrupted food supply lines—during which an estimated 15 percent of the city’s population died. Offsetting the generic anonymity suggested by the piling up and mass disposal of bodies, Goya sought to preserve the dignity of the individual in this print. He relied on time-honored models for representing the principal figure; the detail of her dangling arm is a common trope in the Christian tradition that recurs in scenes of the Passion of Christ.
Artwork Details
- Title: Plate 64 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'Cartloads to the cemetery' (Carretadas al cementerio)
- Series/Portfolio: The Disasters of War
- Artist: Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
- Date: 1811–12 (published 1863)
- Medium: Etching, drypoint, burnished aquatint
- Dimensions: Plate: 6 in. × 8 1/16 in. (15.2 × 20.5 cm)
Sheet: 9 15/16 × 13 9/16 in. (25.2 × 34.5 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Purchase, Jacob H. Schiff Bequest, 1922
- Object Number: 22.60.25(64)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
1799, posthumous impression
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
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