Francisco de Goya

The women give courage (Las mujeres dan valor)

Clasificación
The women give courage (Las mujeres dan valor)
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1810 - 1815
Dimensiones
155 x 206 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching, lavis, drypoint, burin and burnisher
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Ficha: realización/revisión
25 Nov 2010 / 24 May 2023
Inventario
225
Inscripciones

28 (lower left-hand corner).

Historia

See Sad presentiments of what must come to pass.

There exists a state proof in which lavis and aquatint were added right up to the edges, and drypoint was used to retouch the woman's left cheek. No state proof with just the engraved number 34 has been conserved, but another state proof, featuring both that number and the number 4, has survived.

The title was handwritten by Goya on the first and only print run that we know to have been made at the time, and which the painter gave to his friend Agustín Ceán Bermúdez. The title was engraved on to the copperplate at a later date, and no other modifications were made to the image for the first edition of the Disasters of War, which was printed by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid, in 1863.

No preparatory drawings for this print have been conserved.

Análisis artístico

In the centre of the scene a French soldier grapples with a woman, pulling her violently by the hair. Next to this pair, another female figure fights with a second French soldier lying on the ground, whom she has just stabbed with a sword. The bold dynamism of this image is achieved through the use of diagonal lines in the composition, giving a sensation of instability to the figures. This same device has been used in many other prints in the Disasters of War series.

Aquatint has been applied over the whole of the background, as well as on the ground. The result is a grainy effect that, on the one hand, cancels out any spatial references whilst at the same time creating an oppressively dark atmosphere that heightens the sinister character of the scene.

There are several images in which Goya speaks of the decisive role played by women in war. Victims of rape and assault, they find themselves in circumstances in which they are forced to defend themselves in any way possible. This print is related to no. 5, And are like wild beasts, which appears to conclude the narration being told here in print no. 4, or to add emphasis to it.

Other prints in the series in which Goya deals with women's involvement in war include no. 7,What courage!, no. 9, They do not want to, no. 11, Or these, no. 13, Bitter presence, no. 19, There is no more time and no. 31 That's tough!.

Conservación

The etching plate is conserved in the National Chalcography Museum (cat. 255).

Exposiciones
  • Goya
    Ministry of Foreing Affairs
    Burdeos
    1951
    organized by the Bordeaux City Hall, consultant editor Gilberte Martin-Méry. From May 16th to June 30th 1951
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • 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. 106
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Goya engravings and lithographs, vol. I y II.
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    cat. 124
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    cat. 997
  • 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. 186
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 121
  • 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. 53
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