Antiquarian Books from the Continent from Librairie Thomas-Scheler
- by Michael Stillman
Goya depicts body parts hung in trees, evidence of the brutalities of war.
Item 54 is a first edition set of Francisco Goya's prints Los Desastres de la Guerre (the disasters of war). This a series of images Goya made of the horrors of the Peninsular War when Napoleon invaded and took control of Spain, followed by the restoration of the monarchy. Though Goya was an official court painter, the artwork displays his inner feelings about what was going on. He never said much about it, so his sentiments can only be inferred from his work. He began it in 1810, when he was already 64 years old and not in good health, taking ten years to complete the art. However, he never published any of it, perhaps from fear as to how authorities would react, along with concern that it could be a financial disaster. The art was left to his son when he died in 1828, and was not published until after his son died as well. Publishing came in 1863, when 500 impressions were made, with later editions bringing the total to 1,000, though the quality is reduced in the later printings. €200,000 (US $109,236).
