Se aprovechan (They Make Use Of Them), plate 16 from the series Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War)

In 1808, French troops entered Spain, beginning a violent occupation that would ravage the country until 1813. Some Spanish intellectuals initially embraced the French as enlightened liberators, while others maintained their allegiance to the exiled Spanish monarchy. Goya never openly declared his loyalties; he worked for both the French and supporters of the exiled monarchy.

During these tumultuous years, Goya began producing compact etchings depicting scenes of war and its consequences. While several of these prints take on the character of an eyewitness report, they are not simply documentary accounts of the French occupation. Instead, Goya moves from the specific to the universal to uncover the essence of war, from acts of bravery to scenes of brutality, hunger, misery, destruction, and death.

Goya never published the 80 prints that would become Los Desastres. In 1863, long after his death, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando published the series. Influenced by the aesthetics of photography—particularly contemporary photographs of the American Civil War—they printed Goya’s plates with an excess of ink, creating a uniform grey tone.