Plate 70 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'They do not know the way' (No saben el camino)

Art Historical Context

In Francisco de Goya's monumental series *The Disasters of War*Los Desastres de la Guerra), Plate 70, titled *'They do not know way'* (No saben el camino), captures the raw anguish of the Peninsular War (180814). Created between 1814 and 1815 amid Spain's brutal fight against Napoleon's invasion, these etchings document the unsparing horrors of conflict—famine, violence, and human suffering. Goya, a pioneering Romantic artist, abandoned heroic ideals for stark realism, critiquing war's futility through unflinching imagery. Though printed in his lifetime, the full series was published posthumously in 1863, reflecting its politically charged power. This print exemplifies Goya's virtuoso printmaking: etching for fluid lines, drypoint for velvety burrs evoking texture and emotion, burin for crisp details, and burnisher for subtle highlights. At 6 7/8 × 8 1/2 inches, its intimate scale draws viewers into the chaos of human figures adrift in despair, their lost path symbolizing moral and physical disorientation. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this work endures as a timeless anti-war testament, influencing modern artists like Picasso. Goya's bold techniques and unflagging humanism remind us that amid disaster, empathy charts the true way forward.

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 ...