Plate 6 from ‘The Disasters of War’ (Los Desastres de la Guerra): ‘It serves you right.’ (Bien te se está.)

Description

In It serves you right, injured men receive assistance beneath a dark sky, their dependence bringing the consequences of conflict into a close human exchange. Francisco Goya’s It Serves You Right places a harsh judgment beneath a scene of physical need. The contrast makes the caption difficult to accept without examining the people who must bear its words.

Made in 1810 and published in 1863, plate 6 of The Disasters of War uses etching and tonal work to give the damaged bodies weight. Goya allows care to appear within the scene while the title voices blame, keeping the two responses in uneasy contact. The image’s gravity lies in that discrepancy. An accusation can be delivered briefly, but suffering remains substantial and individual, requiring support regardless of the arguments used to explain how it came about.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Goya collection.