The Worst is to Beg

Goya, Francisco de

The Disasters of War #55

dc.creator	Goya, Francisco de	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2007-11-19T17:44:34Z
dc.date.available	2007-11-19T17:44:34Z
dc.identifier	026411	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1721.3/23042	en_US
dc.description	There are three main groups in the Disasters of War series. The scenes of famine in Madrid are depicted in plates 48-64.Goya’s 82 Disasters of War prints, on which he worked from 1810 until 1820, were etched from red chalk preparatory drawings. They record moments during the Peninsular War and its aftermath while compellingly projecting universally appalling horrors. The initial scenes illustrate the death and destruction Goya witnessed when called to Saragossa in October 1808, each print bearing a succinct comment: This I Saw (pl. 44), All This and More (pl. 7), Bury Them and Keep Quiet (pl. 16) and, simply, Why? (pl. 49). With plate 48 (The Same) there appear less violent scenes of devastation and death that he observed during the famine of 1811–12 in Madrid. Plates 65 to 77 present bitterly satirical and anti-clerical ‘emphatic caprices’, such as This Is the Worst of All (pl. 74). The personification of Truth as an innocent young woman (the Death of Truth and Will She Arise Again?, pls 79–80) culminates in the final plate (This Is the Truth, pl. 82), in which she is standing before an aureole of light in a peaceful countryside accompanied by a bearded, bent farmer and a lamb. This scene might be considered an affirmation of Voltaire’s conclusion to Candide (‘we must cultivate our garden’) and, by extension, an affirmation of the belief that Adam’s neglect in cultivating the gardens of Paradise led to the suffering from which humanity could be redeemed only through Christ, son of the Virgin, here evoked in Goya’s figure of Truth. (PRISCILLA E. MULLER: 'Goya, Francisco de, §I, 3: The mature Goya, 1793–1819', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed [7 August 2003]) <http://www.groveart.com>)	en_US
dc.description	detail, beggar	en_US
dc.format.extent	15.5 x 20.5 cm (6.1 x 8.07 inches)	en_US
dc.format.medium	ink	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	120430	en_US
dc.subject	Disasters	en_US
dc.subject	Hunger	en_US
dc.subject	Starvation	en_US
dc.subject	Wars	en_US
dc.subject	Beggars	en_US
dc.subject	Dead	en_US
dc.subject	Series (Groups)	en_US
dc.subject	Goya, Francisco, 1746-1828. Disasters of war	en_US
dc.subject	Madrid (Spain)	en_US
dc.subject	Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 -- Campaigns -- Spain	en_US
dc.subject	Art, Spanish --19th century	en_US
dc.title	The Worst is to Beg	en_US
dc.title	The Disasters of War #55	en_US
dc.title.alternative	Los Desastres de la Guerra: Lo peor es pedir	en_US
dc.type	Image	en_US
dc.rights.access	All rights reserved	en_US
dc.publisher.institution	Repository: Boston Public Library (Boston, Massachusetts, United States) ID: 1084	en_US
vra.culturalContext	Spanish	en_US
vra.technique	engraving (printing process)	en_US
vra.worktype	Engraving (print)	en_US
dc.contributor.display	engraver: Francisco de Goya (Spanish, 1746-1828)	en_US