Francisco de Goya

A cruel shame! (Cruel lástima!)

Clasificación
A cruel shame! (Cruel lástima!)
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1812 - 1815
Dimensiones
151 x 208 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, buril, lavis bruñido y bruñidor
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
15 Dec 2010 / 24 May 2023
Inventario
225
Historia

See Sad presentiments of what must come to pass.

The title was handwritten on the print by Goya in the first and only series that is known to have been printed at the time the works were created, which the artist gave to his friend Agustín Ceán Bermúdez. Therefore, the title was etched into the plate at a later date and left unchanged as of the first edition of the Disasters of War printed by the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid in 1863, after the printing of the series in the possession of Ceán Bermúdez.

There is a surviving preparatory drawing for this print which is housed in the Prado Museum.

Análisis artístico

This print begins the second part of the Disasters of War series, in which Goya deals in depth with the subject of hunger as one of the principal consequences of war. The most difficult moments of the war came with the famine of 1811-12. Both the abandonment of lands and the increased population due to the presence of the French army meant that the wheat harvest was very scarce, and it was necessary to resort to making flour from other grains or pulses in order to make bread. The introduction of alternative ingredients into the population's diet and the adulteration of foodstuffs led to significant health problems in the general public. Consequently, in July 1812 bread makers were informed that all bakers employing harmful substances in their products would be subject to harsh punishment.

This image shows a family in the middle of a desolate landscape, surrounded by dead bodies. The man is shown standing side-on, holding out a hat in his hands in the vain hope of receiving alms. The woman sat next to him is holding a child in her arms. Among the different corpses strewn around the family is the striking figure of a dead child.

Goya has created an almost spectral sky in aquatint which looms over the figures in this print but does not protect them. The dead bodies and the three still living figures in the print have been executed in decisively etched strokes. The face of the begging man is emaciated, with protruding jaw, cheekbones and eye sockets, and he wears a lost look. These are the victims of the famine, from which they were unable to defend themselves and which will probably end their lives as it has those of the others around them.

Conservación

La plancha se conserva en la Calcografía Nacional (cat. 299).

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Drawings, Etchings and Lithographs
    Goya. Drawings
    London
    1954
    from June 12th to July 25th 1954
  • Francisco de Goya: Maleri, Tegning, Grafikk
    Nasjonalgalleriet
    Oslo
    1996
    from 10th to April 14th 1996
  • Francisco de Goya
    Museo d'Arte Moderna
    Lugano
    1996
    exhibition celebrated from September 22nd to November 17th.
  • Francisco Goya. Sein leben im spiegel der graphik. Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux. 1746-1996
    Galerie Kornfeld
    Bern
    1996
    from November 21st 1996 to January 1997
  • Francisco Goya. Capricci, follie e disastri della guerra
    San Donato Milanese
    2000
    Opere grafiche della Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta
  • Goya. Opera grafica
    Pinacoteca del Castello di San Giorgio
    Legnano
    2006
    exhibition celebrated from December 16th 2006 to April 1st 2007
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • 2022
Bibliografía
  • BERUETE Y MONET, Aureliano de
    Goya, grabador
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridBlass S.A.
    1918
    cat. 150
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    cat. 168
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    cat. 1070
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 257
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 143
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 114-151
  • TORAL OROPESA, María and MARTÍN MEDINA, Víctor
    Bibliography']['number
    Museo de Bellas Artes de Badajoz y Diputación de Badajoz
    2022
    p. 69
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