Perhaps they are of another breed, plate 61 from The Disasters of War

Art Historical Context

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, a pioneering Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, created *Perhaps they are of another breed* (plate 61) as part of his seminal series *The Disasters of War* between 1812 and 1815. This etching captures the raw horrors of the Peninsular War (1808–1814), when Napoleon's invading French forces devastated Spain. Goya, witnessing the atrocities firsthand, produced 82 prints that unflinchingly document war's brutality, blending Romanticism's emotional intensity with stark realism. Not published until 1863—decades after his death due to political sensitivities—the series remains a profound anti-war testament. The title, *Quizás de otra especie* ("Perhaps they are of another breed"), wryly questions human savagery, likely depicting scavengers amid corpses to equate beasts with barbaric soldiers. Goya's innovative techniques—etching, aquatint (lavis), drypoint, burin, and burnishing on ivory wove paper with gilt edges—yield dramatic contrasts, velvety blacks, and intricate details in the modest 13.3 × 18.5 cm image. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings Department, this work exemplifies printmaking's power to critique power and preserve memory for posterity.

About the Artist

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes · 1746–1828

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was born on March 30, 1746, in the small Aragonese village of Fuendetodos, Spain, to José Benito de Goya, a master gilder, and Gracia de Lucientes. The fourth of six children in a modest lower-middle-class family, Goya received a basic education before beginning his artistic training at age 14 under the local painter José Luzán y Martínez in Zaragoza, where he sp...