They escape through the flames (Escapan entre las llamas)

A group of people has been surprised in the middle of the night by an explosion caused by the war. In the centre of the scene is a great blaze of light and we can see some men and women running away from the blast. The figures on the left-hand side of the composition are situated closest to the blast, and they cover their faces with their hands to avoid being burnt. In the centre, two men rush to drag a woman dressed in white and stripped to the waist away from the explosion. Near them, another man is carrying an injured man with a bandaged head. On the right, various figures flee the scene: terrified, they trample over others who have fallen to the floor.

This print can be linked to no. 30, Ravages of war (Estragos de la guerra), in which Goya depicts the consequences of a bombing on the inside of a house. The work also shows strong similarities with the artist's two paintings Goya of fires. In these works, the fire - or in the case of the print, the explosion - is the central point from which the people depicted in the work flee, driven by panic.

Goya has made masterful use of etching techniques, creating a lighter space in the centre - the dazzling blast of the fire - from which dense, parallel lines emanate, suggesting the explosion. In this way, the artist accentuates the idea of a centrifugal force that forces the figures to flee towards the space outside the frame of the composition.

Jesusa Vega establishes a link between this print and the previous one in the series, no. 40, He gets something out of it (Algun partido saca). In this case, the present work would represent the destruction of the Buen Retiro porcelain factory by English troops.