Francisco De Goya (1746-1828) - Desastres de la Guerra, Blatt #1 : Tristes presentimientos de lo que ha de acontecer

Francisco de GOYA (1746-1828)
Disasters of the War, Plate #1: Grim omens of what is to come
Etching, Aquatint
Plate size: 305 mm x 295 mm
Image size: 190 mm x 148 mm
see also Harris I, 121-200; Detail 120-199
Original copper print, published by Hugo Kehrer, Verlag H. Schmidt München, 1921 (Edition in copperplate print)
in superb quality on Velin. Gold edge at the top of the image.
Total edition: 500 This is the exemplar #91. Text pages with evidence of provenance of the etching will be sent as a copy with shipment.
The probably most impressive cycle in Goya's oeuvre deals with his piercing view of the Spanish War of Independence against the Napoleonic occupation in a shattering directness. An indictment of the cruelties of war and of violence.
The 80 sheets of the "Desastres" were created from 1810, but were not published until 1863, after the Real Academia Goya’s plates were purchased. They had been sold individually by his grandson after the death of his son Xavier from 1854.
Plate: #1, The first plate of the cycle with its fear-filled symbolism— note the gesture of Christ at the Mount of Olives— opens Goya’s confrontation with the Spanish guerrilla war against the Napoleonic occupation. A masterpiece by Goya.