Plate 13 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'Bitter to be Present' (Amarga presencia)

Art Historical Context

**Plate 13: 'Bitter to be Present' Goya's *The Disasters of War Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, a master of Spanish Romanticism, created this haunting etching around 1810 amid the Peninsular War (1808–1814), Spain's brutal fight against Napoleon's invasion. Part of his seminal series *Los Desastres de la*—82 prints documenting war's atrocities—this plate captures the raw anguish of witnesses, likely men and women confronting horror, as suggested by its title *Amarga presencia*. Goya, then deaf and disillusioned, used these works to expose famine, violence, and human suffering without heroic glorification, making them a powerful anti-war statement. Goya's innovative techniques—etching for sharp lines, lavis for shadowy tones, drypoint for expressive burrs, burin for fine details, and burnisher for subtle highlights—lend a gritty realism and emotional depth rare in early 19th-century prints. Though etched by 1810–1820, the series wasn't published until 1863, reflecting censorship fears. Today, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it reminds us of war's enduring toll, influencing modern artists and photojournalists with its unflinching gaze. *(198 words)*

About the Artist

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) · 1746–1828

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker considered the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Rising from modest provincial origins to become First Court Painter to Charles IV, Goya's career spanned the Enlightenment's optimism and the brutal Napoleonic invasion that shattered it. A mysterious illness in 1793 left him permanently deaf and ...